


Jealous

by ritalara



Series: Why Not Me [3]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Friends to Lovers, Light Angst, Romance, Sci-Ops Era (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-16
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-08-24 08:53:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 56,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16636814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ritalara/pseuds/ritalara
Summary: Jemma is staying with Fitz while her apartment is being renovated and he's keeping odd hours. She's not pleased at the idea of what he might be up to.





	1. Late Night

**Author's Note:**

> Lots of Smut. Nice Amount of Fluff. Little Bit of Angst. Very Minimal Plot.

Jemma rolled to her side irritably as she heard the jingle of keys in the door and she squeezed her eyes shut, pretending to be asleep.

How long could she put up with this?

She pulled the blanket tight - facing the inside of the couch, and tried to keep her breathing steady as Fitz came in the door.

To his credit, he tried to be quiet - she could hear him take off his shoes right next to the door, so as to keep his footsteps light.

It was the third night in a row that he’d come in late. The first time she had waited up. The second she had dozed off and been shocked awake by his entry. This time she was downright perturbed.

He walked toward the small kitchenette of his apartment and she listened acutely as he poured himself a glass of water, the blue light of the fridge casting a glow. She tried not to acknowledge it, but for some reason she peeked right as he was gulping down the beverage, standing in front of the fridge.

This was torture.

When Fitz had offered to let her stay over while her apartment building was being renovated she knew it was a bad idea. Something had slowly started to change in her feelings about him recently and she should have never accepted the invitation. 

She found herself as of late thinking ridiculous thoughts about his jaw bone and his eyelashes and his hands - goodness his hands - and as she stole a glance at the way his Adam's apple bobbed as he drank, she closed her eyes again quickly, admonishing herself at the thought.

Before she could try to will herself to sleep she was struck by a crash from the kitchen.

“Oh for goodness sake!”

She sat up, flicking on the lamp, and Fitz scrambled as he apologized.

“Sorry! I just - I dropped the glass, and - sorry... for Pete's sake,” he mumbled to himself.

Her thoughts shifted as she heard him start to pick up shards of broken glass and she hopped up from under her covers.

“Be careful - here let me get the broom.”

She reached to the side of the refrigerator where a short broom and dustpan were stored between the appliance and the wall, and she gestured toward the sink as she began to help.

“Get the bin - please.”

He followed direction and she kneeled, sweeping up the smallest bits as he plunked the largest pieces in to the garbage.

“Thanks Simmons, I...”

He looked down and she was crouched on the balls of her feet, leaned over, with her...cleavage...on full display. Fitz had noticed her before in tops that showed a bit more than her average work blouse - but he couldn't recall if he’d ever seen quite this much - or been so affected.

Perhaps if he’d been more of a gentlemen he would have looked away before he had stared long enough to notice she wasn’t wearing a bra, but as at were, his gaze moved down to her legs as she scooped up the rest of the debris in to the trash.

The sleep shorts she had on were quite a bit more...revealing... than any he’d ever seen her in before as well - or were they? A cavalcade of confusing thoughts crossed his mind and he reminded himself why he’d been spending nights out while she was staying with him.

As soon as he had offered her a place to stay he knew it was a bad idea. In the years that they’d worked at Sci Ops they'd both had the opportunity to expand their horizons, and recently that meant that they didn’t spend every free evening together like they had when they had first left the academy.  They were both currently assigned to separate R & D projects and they simply weren’t joined at the hip as they once had been - and something about them having more time apart had...tilted things of their axis a bit.

She stood up and his eyes followed her, his stance locked while his gaze moved.

Jesus, he needed to go to bed.

“Thanks for the help Simmons - sorry to wake you.”

She almost said something snarky but the tone of his voice changed her mind.

“Fitz is everything okay - where were you tonight?”

“Yeah - fine. Just had a spill. I was out but I didn’t - like I said, I’m not drunk or anything.”

“This is the third night this week that you’ve been out - are you...do you do this all the time?”

Jemma realized she wouldn’t know the answer anymore.

“What? No - I, I didn’t want to crowd you is all.”

“What?”

“I wanted to give you some, uh, space, while you were staying here.”

“What, why?”

He didn’t have a good answer to this.

“Fitz are you sure this isn’t - am I infringing on your...lifestyle?”

“My...my what?”

“Your - you know, your - whatever it is that you...oh this is ridiculous. Dating, going out - are you, are you seeing someone?”

This was precisely the type of conversation he’d been trying to avoid.

“No. You would know if I - I don’t have a girlfriend or anything if that’s what you're asking.”

She couldn’t help the relief in her face.

He looked at her quizzically and she continued the line of questioning.

“Then who have you been going out with - the other night you didn’t come home until 1 am.”

Now THIS was the conversation he didn’t want to have.

“Just some...some people, some - you know, people, from the lab - from Sci-Ops...folks that work at the Hub, some friends, um, some -”

“Some friends that aren't me?”

She didn’t mean for her envy to seep through so obviously, but the more he talked, the more hurt she was. 

“What!? No - Jemma, no, it's not - it's not like that. It's mostly guys, you know, Diaz, a few guys from SHIELD, who - it's just kind of a thing - they all hang out at this one bar most nights and, it's not - it's not like a big group of us is going out to karaoke or something.”

“What bar?”

“You...um...I don’t think you would know it.”

He looked down at his feet as he scratched the back of his head and Jemma took in his appearance.

His hair was styled sort of differently, and he had on the same jeans & shirt, that he had worn to work, but it was all a bit...looser, with a hoodie and jacket in place of his typical cardigan & lab coat.

She was confused by how it made her feel - at first a bit forlorn that he was changing - growing up really - right before her eyes, and secondly...flustered at how attractive she found his evolution.

“Is this a place...this bar - do you all...do you all go there to meet women?”

The insecurity in her voice betrayed her and though Fitz couldn’t totally explain why, he didn’t want to give her the honest answer.

“Not...not - that’s not ...the only reason.”

“So you’ve been going out every night for a shag? Is this - how long has this been going on - how many women have you slept with?”

None of her questions were premeditated and Jemma realized how unhinged she was starting to sound.

“What? It's not - no - it's not like that. I’m not...Simmons, I’m not out on the prowl!”

“Then what do you call going out for a regular stag night with all of The Hub’s most eligible bachelors?”

“It's not - we’re not...it's just some guys that hang out and unwind and - if we are meeting people then what’s so wrong with that then?”

He started to get defensive, desperate to turn the conversation.

“So you have been with other women.”

Oh god, she was losing it.

“Other - what? What are you-”

She tried to change the subject.

“It's not you Fitz.”

“What?”

“This - this whole thing,” she gestured at him, “I don't even recognize you anymore. This whole...thing, it’s not you.”

“How would you know?”

“I guess I wouldn’t.”

They were both angered for what felt to the other like no good reason, and Fitz was distracted as he watched her bosom heave.

“Jesus Jemma, can you - can you put some clothes on?”

“WHAT?!”

That was not the right thing to say.

“I didn’t - shit - I didn’t mean...it’s just - it's just a bit, distracting and I - never mind. Please, just, forget I said anything - I should go to bed.”

She stood in front of him.

“What’s that supposed to mean? I’m sure I’m more covered up than whomever you’ve been flouncing around with!”

“What? What are you even talking about?”

“I just would think that the female form is a bit old hat to you now that you've been fooling around with a swath of-”

“-are you mental?! It isn’t a swath - I’ve gone out with...a few...it doesn’t...Jemma, why in the hell are you so upset about who I sleep with?”

“Because it isn’t me!”

Fitz’s eyes were saucers and she sucked in a breath of terrored air.

“What...the...hell?”

“I - I...I should go to bed.”

But she didn't move.

Her jaw tightened as she took in his gaze and he walked towards her, closing the space.

“Jemma... what did you just say?”

“Fitz please don’t do this.”

“What did you mean?”

“I - I don’t know, I don't - I don't like this. I don't like not knowing what you're doing or who you're with and I, I miss you. I miss spending our time together and you have all these new friends now and I - and these women...and you have every right to but, I...I can’t - I can’t stand it Fitz,” she murmured, “I can’t stand it. I can’t stand this feeling. I can’t stand the idea that you are out with...with women, and-”

“With other women.”

She didn't respond.

“A minute ago - you said other women. And then you said...”

“I know what I said.”

“You said you...you said you were - you’re just...Jemma, I know it’s late and you’re tired and -”

“I’m as clear headed as I’ve ever been.”

With Fitz standing in front of her she could see the blue of his eyes and the stubble on his chin and she was completely focused. 

She didn’t want to take it back.

She meant every word of it.

His gaze bore in to her and their bodies shifted closer together. As his face inched towards hers she whispered,

“What do you think we should do about it?”

He answered her with his mouth.


	2. Don't Stop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things escalate quickly.

Fitz had her pressed up against the fridge as he brought his lips to hers in a heartbeat. One hand around her waist and the other on her neck. She responded immediately, one hand under the side of his jaw and the other pulling him into her by his hip.

He mouthed at her breathlessly and she leaned in to the kiss with hunger - both of them pulling at each other like they couldn’t be close enough. He breathed in hard through his nose as his lips parted, opening up their mouths, and Jemma obliged, welcoming his tongue.

Jemma moaned as she felt a pulse directly to her core and her leg moved up his calf unwittingly as she started to kiss him more deeply. He followed her lead without a word and pressed his body against hers, the refrigerator cold against the back of his hand.

She was slightly uncomfortable, but it didn't matter as she sought out his tongue with hers. They continued kissing and his hands traveled down, one cupping under her backside.

Fitz groaned at the feel of her skin and she drove her pelvis towards his, earning another noise from him.

“Jesus.”

Their mouths broke apart for air as he spoke and she ran her nose up his face, taking in his scent. She pulled his hips towards hers again and Fitz obliged, pressing his shaft in between her legs as she ached for friction.

Suddenly she dropped her leg, pushing him away slightly and he started with a look of concern.

“Couch.”   


She kissed him again as she started guiding him backwards and pulling off his layers. By the time they got to the sofa, she had his collar in her hands and he had gone for his own belt buckle. The sound knocked her back to reality and she accidentally yanked him forward as she pulled back.

“Are you you healthy - when was the last time you were checked for STDs?”

Oh god.

“Just, um...a couple months ago - clean, yes.”

“When...when was the last time you slept with someone?”

“Erm...uh - last week I was, but we didn’t...b-b-before that.”

He sighed, trying to compose himself.

“Did you use a condom?”

He cringed. He wasn’t a stranger to the standard awkwardness of the rundown before a quick shag, but this was beyond uncomfortable.

“I, I, I - I always do.”

“Do you have condoms here?”

“Yes.”

“Do you want to have sex?”

“God yes.”

“Go get them.”

As much as she wanted to pry - ask about who he’d been with, ask if he carried condoms around all the time - she didn't want the details to get in their way at the moment. 

He fished in to his pocket and dropped his wallet and keys on to the coffee table, pulling out two condoms.

“Right. Take off your trousers.”

Fitz went for his waistband and she continued with his shirt. He got his belt and jeans undone as she finished undoing his button up and they worked together to get him down to his boxer shorts. 

As Fitz peeled off his socks, Jemma pushed down her own pajama shorts, and then, in what Fitz was pretty sure was the greatest moment of his life, she pulled off her tank top.

“Holy shit.”

She couldn't help but let him oggle her as she took in his physique. Lean. Pale. Handsome. His hip bones jutted out and she was eager to press her fingers against them. His shoulders were sharp, like his jaw, and she wanted to put her mouth on them. She bit her bottom lip as she raked her gaze over his sinewy limbs and the patch of dark hair on his lower abdomen.

He looked at her like he knew she wanted to devour him and he was happy to be consumed. 

Fitz caught her as she launched herself back at him, arms around his neck, accosting his mouth immediately, as he pulled their chests together. He reciprocated, opening his lips to taste her again, and he held her close with one hand as the other ran down, over the side of her breast.

Fitz was conflicted - he wanted to see her, take in her entire body as he touched her, but he also wanted to kiss her until the sun came up. He tried to compromise, walking her a couple steps over toward the couch, and taking a modicum of control.

“Lay down,” he instructed in to her ear.

She unhooked herself from him, moving the blanket as she sat, and Fitz stopped for a moment, looking down at her nudity, and shook his head.

“Christ you’re sexy.”

He leaned forward, pulling her face to his as he kissed her hard and fast, and then turned, dropping his shorts.

Jemma leaned back as she took in the sight of his absolutely delectable bottom, and propped her arms up behind her head on the pillow wedged against the arms of the sofa.

As she took off her own underwear, she realized how much she wanted him to do it. How much she wanted to watch him pull them down her legs as his eyes followed.

Fitz didn't stand there for long - and she missed a chance to admire the rest of him further as he lowered himself on to her body. Although her disappointment was short lived. He clearly had a plan, and as he positioned himself right between her legs, his erection pressed against her clit.

He ground in to her slowly, looking down at her - and he licked his lips as he eyed her. She stretched her arms, head falling back as she breathed in, pushing her breasts toward him.

His hands were otherwise occupied, steadying himself on the couch, so he went right to it with his mouth - taking her nipple immediately in between his lips.

She yanked on the pillow behind her head as she jutted her crotch up against his, and he moaned, pressing back in to her, sucking on her as he began rutting more firmly.

He had caught her just right as he began to move, and she was almost keen to get off like this - grinding his hard on against her while he played with her.

But she wanted more. She wanted all of him.

“I want you. Inside me.”

He faltered and tried to continue his attention to her nipples while he moved one hand down, but it proved a bit difficult.

She reached down to help him out and her hand came in contact with his cock as she moved. He groaned against her, biting down slightly on the sensitive skin around her nipple.

She felt a sharp pulse to her clit again and pushed him up impatiently, opening her legs as Fitz’s hands came up to his own member, looking down between her legs as he collected himself. He stared for a moment, his eyes carrying up her stomach, over her breasts, and stopped at her lips before they met her gaze.

Her pupils were dilated, chest heaving with shallow breath, her arms pulled back again, anchoring her to the couch, and her legs were spread, knees up. She looked completely ready for him.

“Jemma -”   


“Yes. Fitz, yes - please.”

She rocked her pelvis as she looked down, the tip of him ready to enter her, and he changed position slightly, sitting up, so that he could put on the condom.

She watched him, fighting the urge to move her hips, and he finished, placing his hands on her pelvic bone, as finally he slid into her purposefully.

He looked down as he entered her and then up at her face, assuring her comfort & consent and she arched her back immediately, planting a foot on either side of his hips, moving with him.

He could see the whole plane of her body like this and he felt a surge of pride that she was clearly enjoying him. He found a rhythm quickly so that he could hold their movements with one hand while the other went wherever he could reach. 

His arm stretched up to her breast and he paid attention to the one he had not yet had time for. As his fingers plucked her nipple, Jemma careened, and she shot up, her elbows behind her, and began thrusting hard as he did the same into her.

She felt her clit throb at her mounting pleasure and if she could reach it comfortably, she would, but her efforts were otherwise focused, and Fitz seemed to have a free hand.

“Touch me,” was all she could manage as her head started to lull back, and he tried to focus on his pace as his hand moved around her torso.

He smoothed his palm up to her nipples again and tweaked one firmly, twisting it erotically. It made her throb even more.

“Oh god Fitz, my clit, touch my clit, please...”

He sat back on his feet a bit, supporting her thighs with his, and kept himself moving inside of her. That angle was less interesting for Jemma - until he leaned forward and his mouth fell to hers as his fingers took up on her.

She surged forward as it grabbed hold of her and she took every piece of him in to her as she kissed him, her tongue messy & deep.

She was consumed by him. 

His hardness, his softness.

As Fitz began to work at her, he felt a pulse of wetness coat him and he cried out against her mouth.

“Oh god Jemma.”

She clenched as he continued and he whimpered again, licking the underside of her jaw, panting hard as he continued moving and she leaked her arousal again, this time against his hand. He looked down as he ran it over his own shaft and he realized how much he wanted to taste her.

The thought shocked him back to her face and she was looking down intently as he moved in and out of her and played with her clit. She began bucking more firmly and licked her lips as she squeezed her eyes shut right as she clenched around him.

He almost toppled over, trying to keep his fingers moving as he penetrated her, but it was becoming too much. He sucked in some oxygen to revive himself and sat up again, moving his hands for a moment.

“No don't stop!”

He moved quickly up onto his knees as he pulled her hips forward slightly and she fell completely onto her back.

“Just move your leg,” he huffed, guiding his hand down her thigh and pushing it out.

She stretched her calf up the back of the couch, hooking her ankle over the edge and pressed her palms and forearms into the cushion underneath her for leverage.

He started again in earnest, throttling in to her quick and deep, and he sucked his fingers into his mouth, before he struck them back against her.

Jemma barely had a moment to take in the visual before he was at it again and she could do little besides toss her head back in enjoyment.

“Yes, Fitz, yes.”

She heard his name come out of her mouth again and in some far off part of her brain she was amused and elated.

Fitz.

Fitz was doing this to her.

Bringing her to pleasure with the coital friction of their bodies.

Fitz.

Her handsome, engineer, scientist, best friend.

And he was damn good at it.

She didn't even have time to think about how he'd been honing his techniques as he went at her relentlessly and their combined panting filled the air.

Fitz was completely lost. He was going on instinct now, all the most primal parts of his brain telling him what do, how to move, where he wanted her, where she wanted him.

As the pace mounted so did he and he focused on his movements, squeezing his eyes shut as he started to reach orgasm. It hit him like a shock and he yelled out as he came, exalting her as he pumped through his release.

“Oh god! Jemma, Jemma, god Jemma.”

She knew immediately what was happening and she was desperate to get off as well, thrusting herself up and taking him in as he finished.

“Oh Fitz, yes, please keep going, please, please.”

He almost whined as he finished inside of her and tried to keep up his movements. She pulled him down to her achingly and wrapped her arms and legs around him.

“Don't stop, don't stop, please don't stop, I need you.”

He was nearly boneless as he pressed himself up, moving his hands to the arm of the sofa, and continued, summoning every unit of energy he could.

“Jemma, Jemma, tell me...tell me what to do...”

“Harder,” she breathed out, barely able to articulate.

She was going to be the death of him.

“Jesus. Okay.”

He moved furiously and she ground against him at the same unrelenting pace, both of their bodies making downright unattractive noises and before he had a chance to say anything else, Jemma surged against him, her leg kicking off the couch - it barely missed him as she came with a shout.

“Thank god,” he panted, falling backwards and slipping out of her.

Her arms and legs fell uselessly as she settled back, and Fitz flopped onto the couch, his hands resting on her thighs, as they each caught their breath for a few moments.

Fitz was looking at her, because how could he not, and he gulped down his mounting nerves as she moved her gaze, trying not to make eye contact with him, as the quiet started to inch in to uncomfortable silence.

“I should go to the bathroom.”

She stood up, carrying the blanket with her, and covered herself as she went.


	3. Holy Hell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pure. Smut.

Fitz was too shocked to say anything, entranced by her shoulders as she walked away, and as he watched her go down the hall, a solidity formed in his stomach.

What had he just done?

He'd had sex with Jemma.

Simmons.

Amazing sex.

He’d made her moan and scream and come.

Fucking amazing sex.

Holy hell.

But what did it mean?

He got up quickly to dispose of the condom and get himself a shatterless drink of water and the memory of what they had just done was stark in his head.

She wanted it. Wanted him. Enjoyed it. Enjoyed him inside of her, kissing her, touching her.

Did she want this to happen again or was this a one time thing?

How could they go back now?

He felt himself start to get hard again and he thought about putting his clothes back on but he wasn't sure if that would be more or less awkward if she came back out to him dressed while she was still naked under the blanket.

Naked.

He had seen Jemma Simmons naked.

He had kissed her and tasted her and felt her body with his hands.

He was definitely at half mast again.

 

~

 

Jemma's brain ran a mile a minute as she thought about what she would say when she went back out to the room.

_ “Thanks for the fantastic sex.” _

_ “Want to go another round?” _

_ “Let's pretend this never happened.” _

The last thought stung. 

She didn't want that. It had been more amazing than she could have dreamed and the truth was she wanted more. More of him. More of them together. More of his body pressed against hers.

More of his firmness inside of her and his fingers playing with her and his mouth on her body.

She felt herself clench as she thought about him and she was almost embarrassed.

But why should she be? 

He enjoyed it too. 

He had cursed and lauded and complimented her.

Did he want more too?

She was completely mad. They'd already crossed a line and she was thinking about doing it again.

She checked herself in the mirror and as she tightened the blanket toga, she couldn't help but smile as she took in her own flushed face and messy hair. She licked her lips as she flashed right back to him, over top of her, bringing her to orgasm.

God, she wanted him even more now than she had before. Now that she knew he felt even better than she had imagined.

She had to find some way to talk to him about it. Ask him what he wanted.

While their relationship had been a little...disconnected...recently - they were still best friends who told each other everything.

Or at least she hoped they were. 

They had to be. Even if this was just a one time thing to him - she couldn't let it ruin their friendship.

She opened the door with determination and when she walked back out she caught a glimpse of him that knocked all rational thought out of her head.

He was sat on the couch, throw pillow covering him, and his arms were stretched across the back of the sofa, with his head back and his eyes closed, panting gently.

She wanted to climb on top of him and ride him until they both came again.

He looked up at the sound of her coming down the hall, his eyes taking a minute to focus. The sight of her didn't help that.

Her face and her neck and her collarbone and the hint of her cleavage and...

He tried to steady his breathing as she came closer.

Jemma stood in front of him trying to focus on his face and it was difficult with his arms and shoulders and collarbone exposed to her. Her fingers ached to touch him again - press against his skin. Her lips pursed together as her eyes raked quite obviously over his body, and in a overwhelming pique of lust, she let go of the blanket.

“Fuck.”

Fitz pushed the pillow to the side and grabbed her wrist, pulling her on top of him and she dropped to her knees on either side of his legs, immediately beginning to grind against his cock.

“Jesus Simmons, are you kidding me.”

She didn't give him a response but yanked his mouth to hers as she moved harder, trying to find the right pressure again.

He followed her lead, his hands traveling up her back, and pulling her against him as he leaned in to the back of the couch, finding a motion with his hips that let him grind against her effectively.

As he hardened, she moved her hands to his shoulders and pushed against them giving herself more leverage, as she she felt her own dampness grow.

“God, are you always this wet?”

Some far off part of her couldn’t believe she was hearing these words out of his mouth, or that they affected her so much, and that same part of her was shocked at her own response.

“Only when I touch myself.”

She felt herself pulse at the thought, that her pleasure with him was tantamount only to when she was getting herself off, and her arousal emanated again.

“Fuck, Simmons” he groaned.

She moved again, sliding herself across his shaft and he moaned, sucking her mouth against his, and bringing a hand around to her breast. He worked at her nipple and her tongue as she continued to create erogenous friction between them, and Jemma keened in to his mouth as she hit a particularly sensitive spot.

Fitz took her in as she arched back and immediately brought his hand up her side and around her other breast while he held her in his lap.

He twitched against her and she closed her eyes for a moment, slowing her undulations against him as she reached down between them to stroke herself for a moment, carrying her moisture down his stem.

His head fell to her shoulder and he panted, clenching his jaw as he looked down. He moved his hands between them, following her motions as he fondled each of them in turn, and he thumbed at her clit distractedly as he slid himself between her folds.

Neither of them needed further direction as he held himself while she continued to ride up and down his hard on. They each vocalized and she continued noisily as she began quickly moving on top of him.

Each down stroke elicited a new noise from Jemma, and she kept herself right where she needed pressure, pistoning on top of him as she whined out her aching pleasure.

Each high pitched sound went straight to his groin and Fitz bit his lower lip as she ground against him, the sensation threatening tears.

He tried his best to follow along, mostly succeeding at letting her have her way with him, and it felt like only a couple minutes went by before she was on the verge of climax.

“Oh god, yes, yes - make me come.”

He held her hips to his as she came and he thrust quick and hard against her as she released a long moan next to his ear.

His satisfaction at her pleasure drove him towards release and she moved herself, sliding back and forth in longer strokes, her warmth and wetness coating him.

His head rested on her shoulder, his mouth panting against her collar bone, and she reached between them, taking him in hand. He groaned against her and she started to get him off quickly.

Jemma watched herself pleasure him as her own orgasm sifted through her veins and Fitz clutched at her back.

“Yes. Yes...oh god, I'm gonna come, I'm gonna come.”

She stroked him off, hard and fast, backing up slightly as he released. He mouthed at her as he came, sounding out, and she let him go as she slumped against him, Fitz holding her.

They panted against each other as they came down and Fitz acknowledged the mess between them, opening his eyes to look for something to wipe them off with. He decided the pillow would do - he could clean it - and he reached between them to palm at her leg then his, wiping it off on the throw.

“I can move,” Jemma offered, her voice tired.

“Come to bed with me,” he answered.


	4. Over and Over

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A nice long evening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Abandon realism at the entry way my friends.

Endorphins and hormones and post coital cognizance must have been to blame because Fitz had no idea what he was doing.

She paused - a hundred thoughts crashing through her head - and the longer she waited the more nervous he got.

There was something about sleeping in his bed with him that felt ...different...than what they had just done. But the other option was almost too painful to bear.

“It can mean whatever we want it to mean,” he assuaged.

She smiled, strangely elated that they were on the same page, even if it hadn't been written yet, and she got up, reaching for the blanket and wrapping it around herself again.

Fitz motioned toward the bathroom and trotted ahead, his delectable derriere in front of her

She straightened the pillows, pulling the messed one from its case and tossing that into the washer. She reached for their disregarded clothes as well, piling them into the hamper, busying herself - then went for some water and tried not to over analyze the anxious knot in her stomach.

The memory of his hands around her back flitted through her and her stomach clenched, eager for them again. It was almost absurd for her to be in the beginning stages of arousal again, but she felt a lingering throb. She heard the bathroom door open and took in a deep breath, finishing her water and setting the glass on the counter.

“Jemma?”

“I'm here - I'm going to use the -”

He came in to view and she was struck by him again. He was completely naked and she delighted in the scene, her cheeks pink.

“Meet me in my room?”

She nodded and made her trip to the toilet quick, trying not to overthink as her body worked its way through her new state of being.

Fitz had put on some clean boxers and had a tshirt and shorts on his nightstand for her. She had a small pang in her stomach as she wondered if this was some sort of routine and before she could stop herself she asked.

“When was the last time someone else slept here with you?”

He had been tidying up his room, shoving dirty clothes in to the laundry basket and he stopped.

“Not...not...um - never.”

She nodded, slightly ashamed at her jealousy, but also quietly pleased at the answer, and he turned towards her.

Fitz looked at her for a few moments and she couldn't quite make out the thoughts flitting through his mind.

“Jemma, it's...it's me - I'm not - despite what you may think - I'm not - I've not got a bunch of people traipsing in and out of my bed...I'm not - it's not like that.”

She didn't really know what to say so she reached out her hand, pulling him to her, and the blanket dropped again as she wove his arms around her lower back and kissed him.

He met her mouth eagerly and immediately his hands moved down to cup her firmly as his tongue slid into her mouth.

He deepened their kisses and the heat throbbed between her legs again as his hands kneaded her bum. Jemma pressed herself against him and encouraged Fitz backwards on to the bed, slipping in next to him as he lay down, his arms welcoming her immediately.

She kissed him hungrily and their hands began to move again. Fitz focused on her back and legs, sliding his palm across her butt and thighs and she pressed her grip along his shoulders, thumb sliding across his collarbone as their mouths moved.

She felt almost lost in these sensations with him - overcome with desire and pleasure at his touch and the feel of him.

Fitz felt the same.

He had no clue how to explain it, but he had never wanted someone the way he wanted her.

His hands moved over her hips and down her inner thighs and she grasped at him, her legs opening as she willed his hands to move.

“Yes...”

Fitz led her on to her back and his hand continued down her knee as he pressed her leg open. She brought him with her, unfocused lips against his as she felt herself getting aroused again.

“I want you. I want your hands,” she said in to his mouth.

Fitz stilled, his forehead pressed against hers as his fingers clutched at the tensed muscles of her inner thigh.

“Jemma.”

Her name steadied him. Bringing his focus to reality. Their reality. The reality of them in bed together.

“Do you want to touch me Fitz?”

Her question was sexy but earnest and he looked at her as he answered.

“More than anything.”

Their mouths knocked together as she pulled him to her, his leg hooking over hers, and Fitz slid his hand up her hip, across her rib cage and to her breasts and he focused there for a moment, his tongue moving casually with hers.

He slid his hand across her sternum from breast to breast, cupping her in his palm as he fondled her, and she reached up to guide his hand to her nipple and moaned against his lips as she pressed his fingers more firmly against her skin. He expressed a guttural moan as he rolled it between his fingers and she stretched her legs, wanting.

With a boldness born of desire she reached up and guided his hand between her legs as she moved her hips against the press of his palm. Fitz kissed her as he began to stroke her middle and his fingers slipped through her folds with ease.

“Oh, you feel so good,” Jemma panted.

Her clit was firm with arousal and as he put pressure on it she keened immediately, crying out.

His face dropped to her neck and his eyes traveled down her body.

“God, Jemma” he exhaled, rolling his fingers.

Her mouth was dry and she stuttered his name between breaths, her legs moving up and down the mattress, and he sucked at her neck as he moved his hand through her wetness and back up to her nub.

She was panting heavily now as she began to rock her hips and Jemma's hand moved to his neck, holding him against her as he continued. Fitz moved his head up slightly, his breath in her ear and listened as she reacted to his touch.

“Jemma,” he whispered again, his lips wet against her skin.

“Yes, oh, yes”

Her body writhed as she felt the blood start to rush to her legs.

“Jemma,” he murmured again.

“Fitz, yes, Fitz, Fitz, yes.”

He ran his tongue up the side of her neck and she cried out as he began moving his fingers more fervently.

“Fitz, yes, yes, yes”

Her hand fell down over top of his and she grabbed it as she moved.

“Faster.”

He drove his tongue in to her mouth as he moved to a fever pitch and she moaned, clutching his back, barely kissing him back as she whimpered. He continued kissing her, his tongue insistent against hers, and the pleasure waved from her tongue to her toes, crashing up her legs and finally to her clit as she cried out.

She held his hand and he stroked her gently as she finished, her pelvis shivering through the aftershocks. His palm moved to rest on her hip as his tongue slowed and she kissed him back languidly in appreciation, and it traveled back up her torso as he pawed at her breast.

He couldn't get enough of her.

Fitz kissed her sensuously as his fingers swept across her skin and Jemma’s hand moved up his arm, pulling him closer. Their kissing moved from impassioned to affectionate as they continued.

He wanted to stay close to her. It felt too good to stop.

Jemma was right when she said it wasn’t like him to be out all night but he hadn’t completely been himself recently and she was the reason. Or he was. Something had shifted the day that he had picked her up at the airport and he had been avoiding it until tonight.

He had seen her, sun kissed and smiling from her holiday - and it was like a crashing realization. He wanted her.

He ran his hand up her neck and in to her hair, clutching at the back of her head, and Jemma’s hands moved to his upper back, holding him close.

She couldn’t get enough of him.

She wanted to tell him. Wanted to say something. Something to explain what was happening.

Fitz couldn’t even begin to find the words to express the feelings rocking through his body as they held each other. Her other hand came up to his neck and a new wave of affection crested through him. He moaned lightly and felt her smile across his mouth as her lips moved to the side of his, and she pressed them to his cheek and his jaw. He sighed contentedly again and she cooed back gently, moving under his jaw and to his neck with her kisses.

“That was amazing,” she said, her voice deep & rough.

He took in a breath and sighed out again from the back of his throat.

“Mmmm, good.”

His hand wandered down her neck and across her throat and collarbone and her head fell back as he caressed her. She was completely naked and completely in his thrall...and he wanted all of her.

He kissed her clavicle and propped himself up on one elbow, his eyes on her body as he brushed his fingers across her breast. He couldn’t help himself, leaning down to kiss her nipple again and she felt a gentle tingle as the warmth and wetness of his mouth closed around her.

His tongue started rolling around her peak as his hand played at her other breast and she sighed, her head relaxing in to the pillow.

“Fitz...”

The sound of his name from her mouth like that was enough to spur him in to action again and, he couldn't help but wonder if she was still wanting.

He flicked his tongue against her nipple, and as he stroked his hand down her rib cage, he felt her body tense. Fitz smiled to himself as she took in a quick breath.

She was overcome. He was inducing her again and she had never, ever, been so continuously aroused.

Fitz moved his hand back to her breast as his mouth moved up to her neck and he began to suck at it as he pinched her nipple again before ghosting his hand down her rib cage. She gasped in air again, shuddering a moan out and he scraped his teeth across her throat. She whined and he breathed in laboriously, his chest tight with eagerness and warmth.

“Do you want more?” he murmured underneath her ear, his fingers skating down her abdomen.

Jemma clutched at the bedspread, her legs falling open again, and she bit her lip.

She was nearly embarrassed at her eagerness.

“I want to touch you again,” he said, a hint of longing & insecurity in his voice.

“I want your fingers,” she responded, her thighs burning with coursing desire.

“Where do you want them?”

“Inside me.”

Fitz kissed her mouth and his fingers swept down, palming on top of her mound.

“Are you wet again?” he asked, against the corner of her mouth.

“Yes,” she moaned, the heat moving down her calves.

“Has anyone ever made you come this many times before?”

He had no idea what he was doing, but it didn’t matter anymore. Their world was completely turned upside down and they were playing without any rule book now.

“No, never,” Jemma answered, hers eyes closed as he slid his fingers across her lips.

“Do you want me to keep going?”

“Yes. I want you. You. I want you.”

He circled them around her opening and with some amount of unfounded boldness, Fitz said,

“Open your eyes.”

As she looked at him she began panting immediately and he stared at her, vulnerable, lusting & enamored, as he slid two fingers in to her and curved directly up to her pressure point.

They locked eyes as he moved his fingers inside of her and very quickly he began thrumming against her walls. Jemma clutched at his bicep, her breathing shallow and broken as heat moved through her legs, catching at her center as she clenched around his fingers and moaned.

Fitz shuddered a breath and he began to pant, his own arousal threatening as he watched her face. He felt her wet heat around his hand and he wanted to make her say his name again.

She was intoxicating.

Her face scrunched as pleasure mounted, but she was determined to keep her eyes on his. He looked at her with an expression she could never have imagined and it was everything she wanted.

“Fitz,” she panted,”Fitz, yes, yes, please, yes.”

“Yes. Yes.” he responded, pushing in and out of her, his fingers long and bowed.

Jemma pressed her mouth together as she ached for release and she writhed as he began to flick the points of his fingers against her firmly.

“Fitz, Fitz, I want you, please,” she whined.

“I’m here,” he breathed, pulling his fingers back and then forward again, plunging back and forth relentlessly.

“Oh god, don’t stop,” she cried.

He sucked at her neck as he continued at her with his hand and when she clenched around his fingers, Fitz moaned, squeezing his eyes shut. He was stiff again and she gyrated as she panted, a quick and gentle orgasm cresting through her internally. As she finished, she ached for more.

“I want you. I want you again, I want you inside me.”

“Oh god, yes. Drawer.”

Fitz kissed her hard and moved quickly to pull down his boxers, as she reached to the nightstand, grasping for a condom, before he pulled her to her side to meet him belly to belly.

She kissed him again as she fumbled with the package and they moved chaotically as she rolled the protection on to him and he moaned as he pulled one of her legs over his hip.

He moved in to her slowly at first and Jemma sighed, the after effects of her orgasm still drifting through her. Fitz rocked into her, his hand on her hip for purchase, and he caught her gaze again as he began to shift with purpose, his movements quick & shallow.

Jemma’s eyes were soft with euphoria and she kissed him, keeping her mouth pressed against his as he continued and she pulsed against him, squeezing around his firmness. She knew she was not going to come again, but he felt so good inside her and she wanted to see his pleasure. She pulled back, pressing her forehead against his and brought her hand to his face as she spoke with softness.

“I want you to come.”

He kissed her swiftly and pulled her pelvis to his as he whipped his hips into hers, and she dropped her mouth to his neck, kissing and licking him appreciatively.

“Oh fuck,” he released.

She clamped around him as he grasped her ass and plunged in to her and Jemma moaned pleasurably against his neck as he began to stutter, his groan coming out in broken expulsions as he peaked.

They both relaxed immediately, her leg falling as she released him and she kissed him, her head resting on his arm. Fitz relaxed on to his back and huffed a depleted breath.

She reached over to the tissue box on the nightstand, handing him one, and he gathered the debris of their escapade, tossing it in the bin, before shimmying back in to his boxers.

Jemma smiled, resting her arm across him, bringing her hand to his stomach, and running her fingers over hips.

“You didn't finish,” he acknowledged.

“I orgasmed four times Fitz,” she smiled, a hint of something familiar in her voice.

“That's never happened before,” she added, swirling her fingers up to his chest, “...even with myself,” she whispered into his ear.

This had to be a fever dream.

He had brought her to orgasm over and over and over and she was spooned against his side, whispering her pleasure in to his ear.

Fitz turned his face to hers, his expression befuddled.

“Jemma, what is this?”

She gulped in a breath and looked at him, eyes bright and beautiful.

“I don’t know...”

“Do you...is this - do you want to - are we going to... is this going to happen again?”

“Do you want it to?”

Fitz was at a loss, but when she asked him a direct question it was easy to answer.

“Yes.”

His face illuminated and she pressed herself against him, as she shared.

“Me too.”

The conversation was far from over, but it was getting late and they’d quite worn each other out. He leaned over to kiss her soft & quick, and then laid back. After a few beats, he asked.

“Should we - talk about it more then...tomorrow?”

“Yes, maybe, after work?”

He smiled and kissed her.

“Absolutely.”

She remembered the sleep clothes he had laid out and she reached for the shorts, sliding them on as well.

They were still on top of the covers and she caught Fitz eyeing the blanket she had left on the ground. She grabbed it and he shared a soft appreciative smile, and as she brought it up over them, she lay back, her chest still bare.

“Is it, is it okay if I, sleep like this?” she asked.

“Jemma, as far as I am concerned you should be topless all the time.”

A nervous delight sparked in her stomach and she laughed.

“Is that the new rule any time I stay over?”

He nodded with a smile and Jemma turned off the lamp and pulled the covers over them, leaning into his embrace with a kiss.

___

 

As always, Fitz’s alarm went off much too early for his liking, and as he started to wake, he rolled over instinctively, his hand brushing against Jemma's back. He remembered immediately with a smile everything that had happened and she let out a sigh as his palm rested on her bare skin.

As he started to consider where the morning could take them his phone beeped, a text message alert, and she reached for it.

“Ignore it,” he said.

“It could be work - besides, we need to get up.”

Jemma wanted nothing more than for him to run his hands all up and down her body again but the materials at her lab station weren’t going to analyze themselves.

She thought about kissing him but for some reason it felt more intimate now, in the morning like this, so she sat up, giving him a closed mouth smile as she got up and slipped on his t-shirt.

He watched her walk toward the bathroom with longing and he fell back, sighing. He heard the shower turn on and he thought about joining her but he didn’t know if that was kosher.

They hadn’t yet discussed any...rules of engagement, and in the cold light of morning he felt unsure and quite far from solid ground. He looked down at his phone and his stomach flipped.

It was a text from Diaz:

 

_Saw that girl from last Saturday. She asked about you._

 

Jemma wasn’t completely off base that he had been...seeing people...more so recently than in any of the other time they’d know each other...and it felt strange now. He and Jemma also hadn’t talked about what she had said - that she was clearly displeased with the notion of him with women - other women.

A part of him wanted to smile at her possessiveness but he was also nervous. He knew she would want a full run down sooner than later and he knew no good could come from that.

He decided to get up and make tea while she showered and when she came out of the bathroom a few minutes later, Jemma was back in his shorts & shirt, wet hair combed out.

The past couple days she had been up and ready before him, and it felt like a treat to see her like this, especially now that he knew what her skin smelled like and what she looked like under her clothes.

He licked his lips as his eyes fell to her breasts, the shadow of her nipples under the cotton of his shirt, and her cheeks flushed from his gaze.

God she wanted to have him again.

She gulped and walked towards him, taking her tea from the counter, and as she took a sip she couldn't help but look at him, his eyes locked on hers.

“I should get in the shower,” he said, not moving.

She nodded, the corners of her mouth turning, and said, “I’ll make eggs & toast”

He grinned big and licked his lips again.

She laughed and nudged him.

“Go.”

Jemma smiled to herself as she started breakfast and as she scrambled eggs between sips of tea, she heard Fitz’s phone ping again.

She looked over to where it sat on the counter and couldn’t help but see the message on the screen.  


_Are you going to hook up with her again?_

 

Before she had a chance to decide otherwise, she locked the phone, and her stomach dropped.

The message had been from Diaz.

About her.

She felt sick.

She was so stupid.

And furious.

For a second, she considered knocking in to the bathroom and letting him have it, but she decided it was her own fault.

She knew he had been amassing a bit of a black book and he hadn’t given her any reason to believe this was any different.

He’d said that he wanted her, that he found her attractive.

That didn’t make her special.

She was devastated.

She turned off the burner and set the eggs aside and she had half a mind to get dressed and leave when he interrupted her.

“Hey.”

He was in his jeans and a shirt, and he reached for the toast, a happy gait about him.

“You got a text message.”

She looked at him, jaw clenched and he blanched, confirming her suspicions.

“From who?”

She didn’t answer.

“Jemma, I-”

“It's fine. We didn’t discuss it last night and we should have.”

He didn’t respond and she pointed to the eggs.

“These are ready.”

She walked away towards the hall closet where she had her clothes and suitcase and she began pulling out something to wear for the day.

“Are - are you going to eat?”

“I’m not hungry anymore.”

She walked with her clothes back to the bathroom and didn’t come out until she was ready to leave.

Fitz was a ball of disconcert as he ate and got ready, wondering what he should say. He knew an apology wouldn’t hurt.

“Jemma, I’m sorry that you saw that, I -”

“It's fine Fitz. I...I - I know you, well, you’ve got other friends and maybe this is something that I should have...” she stopped herself.

“We should go.”


	5. A Misunderstanding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get...heated

Their commute to the lab was mostly silent and Fitz fidgeted on the train next to her.

He couldn’t believe how badly this was going after the wonderful night before.

He couldn’t believe it had been a mistake, but he wondered if they should have talked.

Jemma’s stomach ached as she sat next to him, the hurt at his callousness compounding.

She couldn’t even look at him.

She didn’t know why it mattered, but it felt like a slight that he would so flippantly tell one of their coworkers that they’d slept together. It wasn’t like him.

Maybe he really had changed.

Fitz sat next to her in miserable silence, and a strange, strong part of him wanted to hold her hand.

He had to say something - even if he didn’t know what it was.

“Simmons - I...”

“This is our stop.”

She got up and headed toward the door, not looking back.

When they got separated by the crowd, Jemma didn't seem bothered by it, but by the time they got to The Hub, she was stopped, clearly waiting for him.

“I’d like to ask you not to talk to anyone else, about...what happened... until you and I have cleared things up later.”

Fitz wasn't a hundred percent sure what she was referring to, but he had no intention of telling anyone.

“And if you can please ask Diaz to be discreet I’d appreciate it.”

He looked at her with confusion and she took a deep breath before turning away and heading in to the building.

Jemma walked briskly through security and to the lab and her nostrils flared as she walked in and saw Fitz’s new best friend talking to another scientist in their R&D department.

As Fitz walked in behind her she saw Diaz nod at him and Fitz looked away as he headed to put his stuff down.

She had half a mind to tell him off.

Tell him that he was a bad influence and to stay away from Fitz.

She was also considering telling Fitz off as well.

For what, she didn't quite know.

They hadn't agreed on anything. They hadn't spared a single moment to align their interests.

Her own foolhardy assumption that they could simply work through this together was the only thing to blame.

She took another breath and headed to her desk, putting her things down. As she opened up her email, she caught the other agent in her peripheral view, walking over to Fitz and overheard them.

“Did you get my message?”

“Yeah, um, busy morning, didn’t have a chance to reply.”

“So we’re heading over at about 9 tonight - you in?”

“Um...we’ll, um, we’ll see.”

His response hit her square in the stomach.

Before Jemma knew what she was doing, she picked up her phone and texted Fitz.

 

_Got notice the building work is done._

_I'll get my things at lunch and head back to my apartment tonight._

 

She began working on her samples and watched out of the corner of her eye as he put down his things, realizing a minute later that he had a message.

Fitz’s stomach dropped.

She was lying and he knew it.

He looked down at his phone and then back up at her. He looked at the message again and then around the room, clearly trying to decide what to do.

She wanted away from him.

She was clearly angry and she wanted nothing to do with him anymore.

She also didn’t want him to tell anyone. She didn’t want anyone to know.

 

_Don't do this._

_I know you’re angry._

_Please talk to me._

 

She looked at his text and angered again.

She couldn’t do this now.

She looked around, avoiding Fitz’s gaze, glad in the moment that his station was no longer right next to hers, and locked her computer before turning to her desk mate.

“Agent Borel, I’m going to get some tea, would you like to come?”

“Oh I’m good,” the woman said, gesturing to the coffee on her desk.

Jemma wasn’t prepared for that, but she couldn’t turn back now.

She knew Fitz was looking at her and she couldn’t stay in the room with his eyes boring a hole in to her while she bubbled over.

She painted an unaffected look on her face and headed out the door, keeping her eyes focused forward. 

Once she was out in the hallway she felt her airway open up. She walked toward the break room, deciding she would get some tea and think of a way to avoid the lab the rest of the day.

But she knew she couldn’t avoid Fitz forever.

She had thought it meant something more to him than a tryst - but why should it?

They were friends, of course they were. But would that always be true?

Maybe it was ridiculous to think that after several years things wouldn’t change.

They had met when they were sixteen and achingly shy, and they were adults now.

Scientists.

SHIELD Agents.

Advanced in their field, poised to travel the world or make scientific breakthroughs, or become billionaires if either of them wanted to.

Maybe this was the thing that would forever change them.

She stopped in the hallway at the thought of him not in her life every day.

 

“Simmons.”

 

She turned around and he was stood there, handsome as ever, in his plaid shirt and tie.

“Fitz..."

They were both immobile.

"We can’t do this here.” 

“We can’t ignore it.”

She looked around and saw a supply closet nearby.

It was a terrible idea.

If someone saw them who knew what they would think. She also wasn't sure if she trusted herself in a room with him.

He followed her train of thought and before she could disagree, he grabbed her hand and pulled them in to the room.

It was spacious enough for the two of them between the rows of shelves, and Fitz didn’t drop her hand as he spoke first.

“Talk to me. Please”

“I can’t believe you would do that Fitz.”

“I didn’t...I didn’t reply.”

He looked down as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“But you did it in the first place!”

He looked up quickly.

“I didn’t! I told him it was nothing.”

She ripped her hand from his.

“I...I suppose we don’t need to talk later then.”

“What?”

“It’s fine, if it doesn’t...if it was just sex. We should end it here. We should never have -”

“What?!”

Fitz looked almost offended.

“It doesn’t - we said last night it didn’t have to mean anything.”

His eyes did something familiar that sent an ache through her torso.

“It did to me.”

“Then how could you say that?”

“Say what?”

“To Diaz. That it was nothing,” she explained impatiently.

“What?” he befuddled, “...you think I mean you?”

“Who else would you be talking about?”

“The...the girl...Diaz was texting about.”

A new anger settled in her belly.

“What? Who?”

“The...the girl...that he - his text?”

“What are you - give me your phone.”

He was too confounded to argue.

Fitz handed her his phone and she opened the thread with Agent Diaz.

 

_Saw that girl from last Saturday. She asked about you._

_Are you going to hook up with her again?_

 

Jemma’s stomach dropped and her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

“Is this, the...the person, you, you said you last -”

“Yeah.”

“I thought...” she hadn’t looked up from the phone but she handed it back to him.

“I thought you had - I just - I just saw his second message and I thought you had told him about - I thought you were talking about...me.”

“What?”

She sighed.

“I...I thought you were - I thought you told him about us - about last night. I thought it must - I thought...I assumed...”

“You think I would say that was nothing?”

He was clearly wounded.

“I don’t know Fitz! I don’t know what it -”

“Jemma, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you for weeks.”

 

She was silenced again.

 

Fitz took in a deep breath and squared his shoulders.

“You were right about me avoiding you. I didn’t - I didn’t know what to do. I...I started...I started feeling...differently, after you came back from holiday, and-"

Her limbs tingled at the revelation.

“-I...I...something...shifted. You - you’re my best friend and have been since we were 16. I didn’t - I knew you were attractive, of course...but, I, it didn’t - I don’t know...it didn’t occur to me until. I guess maybe, I think - well, it was the longest we’ve been a part in a while and - I’m sorry, I’m saying this all-”

He was cut off by Jemma's hands around his face and her lips against his mouth.

“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you either."

“Jemma,” he murmured between kisses, as he pulled her in to his arms, “I would never...say anything...to anyone...not when we...we’re figuring out...”

She leaned against him until they were pushed in to the door and she started to unbutton his collar.

“Lock the door.”

He followed direction and her mouth went to his neck.

“Jemma, what are you -”

“I want to kiss you,” she explained, her breath on his skin.

“Mmmhmm...” he leaned his head back, his hand in her hair as she sucked at his throat, and she unbuttoned another button, loosening his tie and exposing his undershirt.

She pressed her hands against his chest as she ran her tongue up his neck and he felt a jolt to his center.

“Oh god you - we - we can't we...slow down.”

She pulled back immediately and her face was flushed.

“I’m sorry, I just -”

“No, don’t - it’s, it’s not, I just - you’re, I can’t - I can’t go back to the lab with a hard on.”

She looked down at his pants and saw the bulge forming and lust ripped through her. She was seriously contemplating taking him in hand right then and there.

“Tonight,” she said.

“You’ll come home with me?”

His face was dazed and she had to hold back a grin as she nodded.

They looked at each other for a moment, their hands resting as their breaths filled the silence of the room.

Jemma took another breath and kissed him, her lips firm and steady.

She held her mouth against his for a moment, letting herself anchor to him, and he wrapped his arms around her waist again.

They stood still together, the sound of calming breaths filling the room, and when she pulled away slowly, his face came in to view and she touched his cheek before she stepped back.

He shook his head, taking in a clearing breath.

“Would you have dinner with me tonight?”

“Well, we will need to eat,” she laughed.

“I mean on a date.”

 

“Oh.” 

 

Her face was surprised and then delighted.

 “I want to - I want to take you out - and talk. I don’t...this isn’t...this isn’t just a hook-up. You could never...you mean more to me than...anyone...and whatever this is between us, that means something too.”

Fitz's mouth was dry as he watched her eyebrows raise in awed expression.

“Yes Fitz, I’d love to go to dinner with you.”

 

___

 

By 5 pm, Jemma was more than ready to go.

Seeing Fitz in a conversation with Ott & Diaz about an implement they seemed to be working on, she decided she would perhaps head out early to get ready for dinner.

Not wanting to leave him in the lurch though, especially after their misunderstanding, she feigned an excuse to interrupt.

“Agent Fitz - I, um, that...lecture...we are going to later - I’m going to, um, head back to, um, I am going to go change before we - before we go.”

“Okay - we’re uh, we’ve got about 30 minutes left here - so, can I - um, why don’t we meet at my apartment?”

“Aren’t you staying at his apartment?”

Agent Ott looked at Jemma strangely, taking in her even more anxious than usual demeanor.

Fitz turned red and tried not to look at his peer with murderous eyes.

“Yeah, that’s what I meant - I’ll see you there in about an hour Simmons.”

She smiled tightly and headed out, taking notice of the glance that Diaz & Ott shared.

~

On the train ride back she considered where they might go for dinner, what she’d like to wear, and what she wanted to say.

She knew she felt strongly about him, but her new feelings were mixed with old feelings, and she barely knew where they stood before they’d slept together, let alone now.

She had told him how much she wanted him - multiple times - the night before, but what did that really mean?

She wanted to be with him, to kiss him, to hold each other...

A sharp knot formed in her stomach as she thought about how she'd felt about him before she had been worried they were drifting apart.

He was her best friend, her partner, her confidant.

Her editor, her taste tester, her feet warmer...

He was the smartest person she knew, and she had known for a long time now that he would always be a part of her life.

She still wanted that - all that with him...and more. But what did more mean?

~

Jemma pulled off the sweater she had on and decided to put her jeans back on instead of slacks.

She wasn't sure what one should wear to a first date with their best friend of many years who they’d had mind blowing sex with the night before, and she had half a mind to go down to one of the shops on Fitz’s street and find something.

“Jemma, I’m home!”

A warmth summoned in her chest, and she opened her mouth to respond.

“I’m just - oh!”

Fitz opened the door and they both startled.

He stopped in the doorway, eyes wide at the sight of her in a navy blue underwear set, and her heart skipped a beat.

He was sans cardigan & tie, with his top button undone and his sleeves rolled up - it was warm out and his brow was glistening.

“Holy hell...I...I’m so sorry, I - I didn’t, I thought...” he couldn't get any words out as he took in her pale skin and freckled decolletage.

“I couldn’t decide what to wear,” she stumbled to explain.

He smiled.

“I thought we agreed topless whenever you’re here.”

He moved towards her and she felt her entire body ignite.

They were supposed to talk.

Supposed to go to dinner.

Supposed to figure out this whole...thing...

But his eyes were hooded and her chest was heaving and here they were.

Jemma’s eyes darkened too as she looked at him and she reached behind herself to undo her bra. As she dropped her arms the straps began to fall.

Fitz’s eyes roved over her, deciding where to touch first and he looked at her breasts, running his fingers across the top of her chest.

He drug one down hooking it in to the material and pulling gently as it fell, exposing her, and she watched him, her heart racing, as it went to the floor.

He looked down at her underwear, and back up her torso, eyes darting between her breasts, licking his lips and she felt the cold air on her nipples, the peaks tightening.

She was afraid to say anything, to disturb the moment, and his hands moved to her hips.

“Come here.”

He moved her towards the bathroom counter and kept his eyes on her breasts, looking at them like they were a meal, and Jemma stepped over, her backside against the cupboard.

His hands moved down her sides as he looked her up and down and heat nestled in her center as he ran his thumbs across the band of her panties.

“Take them off,” she told him, her thoughts from the night before striking anew.

Fitz bit his bottom lip as he smiled, reaching down to hook his thumbs into each side of her garment, and he pulled them down, falling to his knees in front of her.

She watched him, the top of his head ducking down, and immediately she was struck.

This was somehow better than what she had pictured and she felt a surge as her bottoms fell at her feet and he helped her step out of them.

He looked up at her as his hands moved up her thighs, and his face was desirous and apprehensive.

His palm swept around to the soft swell of her bottom and he kissed above her pubic bone.

She moaned, high pitched, as her hand went to the back of his head, running over his hair, and he sat back on his heels to bring himself level with her, kissing down her front.

His wet mouth moved towards her peak, and she flexed her hips, opening for him, as his lips met hers.

She cried out softly as he kissed her folds and ran his tongue up and down slowly, stopping to circle at her clit.

Her arousal pulsed gently, and she absorbed the first shock of her pleasures, her calves tightening. He felt her clench and he squeezed her bum as he began to lick her.

“Oh, yes” she breathed out, barely audible.

He pulled her towards his mouth with both hands and lifted his head slightly as he sucked her clit into his mouth.

Jemma cried out and he kissed her again, running his hand up her side and across her ribs to her breast. He licked and sucked and flicked his tongue at her peak as his fingers played at the other and he mouthed at her in varied motions, starting a pattern of attention on her clit. 

She started to anticipate his design as he sucked, then licked, then circled her with his tongue, and she felt her rising climax mount as he squeezed her breast and her buttox, his own arousal growing.

Fitz continued, setting a delicious pace, and he was barely able to register the significance of what was happening before she started to peak.

“Yes, yes, oh god you are close, you're close, so close.”

His hands came to her front, pulling her folds apart and he exposed her throbbing clit as he struck his tongue against her furiously.

“Fitz!”

She called out his name as her climax crested and he lapped at her as he finished bringing her to completion, releasing her and standing up quickly, one hand on his belt buckle as he wiped his mouth across the back of the other.

He surged forward to kiss her and she pulled at him by his collar, pressing her lips to his as he dropped his pants and she started to unbutton his shirt.

“On the counter,” he urged, and he removed the rest of his clothes as she hopped up, spreading her legs.

There was no pretense or discussion, only forward and fevered motion.

Fitz kicked his clothes to the side as he started rummaging in a far drawer, and when he found a condom, Jemma didn't even have time to think before he was putting it on and she was pulling him towards her, arching her pelvis. He pulled her to the edge of the counter and onto him, grunting as he filled her.

She wrapped her arms and legs around him and scraped her teeth across his ear as she breathed.

“Have me."

He struck in and out immediately, pushing forward, his palms on the counter, and he began to thrust, deep & quick.

She tightened around him and he nearly winced at the pleasure.

Jemma kissed at his neck and felt him clench, so she began sucking at it, rocking her hips into his.

He moved against her deep & quick and she moaned her pleasure, feeling her beginning.

“Harder,” she gasped in to his ear.

Fitz groaned.

“Lean back.”

She fell against the mirror, keeping her legs tight around his waist, and he brought his hands to her hips, rutting up in to her hard & firm. She moaned as she pistoned her hips back at him and he penetrated with intensity until he came, thrusting luridly as he finished.

Fitz dropped to his palms, his head falling to her chest and he panted against her.

Jemma sat up, holding his head and closed her eyes. He was still inside her and she wanted more of him.

“I can't get enough of you,” she murmured, clenching against him and he groaned.

“God, Jemma, I feel the same, I really do, but I need a minute.”

“Fingers,” she suggested breathily.

He nearly shook his head as he slipped out of her and he gathered himself, looking down as he did away with the condom, then brought his hands up and down her thighs.

“Lay back,” he directed again and she ached with anticipation as she resumed her previous position.

He was still breathing heavy as he leaned forward, bringing his hand up and his fingers in to her as he looked down, holding her hip.

Jemma was balanced back on her elbows, reminiscent of one of their many positions the night before - and she threw her head back against the mirror as he curved into her.

He knew what she liked now, how she wanted him to make her come and Fitz felt empowered and enthralled as he immediately began fingering against the front of her walls.

Her mouth was open as she skyrocketed, and he leaned forward, laying his body on top of hers as he brought her quickly to completion. She began to shake as the pleasure hit her and Fitz continued stroking quick and deep inside her, kissing her neck as he encouraged.

“Come for me.”

“Yes,” she moaned, high pitched, as her legs locked and it struck through her.

He felt her finish as strongly as he heard her and he slowed immediately, kissing her neck as he removed his hand. He kissed her mouth before standing and raked his hands over her middle as he watched her travel through her orgasm.

“God, Jemma,” he exalted, his eyes roaming.

She reached out a hand silently and he helped her up into his arms, hands around her backside again as he embraced her with a kiss.

“You're insatiable,” he groaned happily against her lips.

“I blame you,” she defended, squeezing his butt.

He kissed her again and took a deep breath, looking into her eyes.

He wanted to find more words to explain the rush going through him, but they escaped him at the moment.

He kissed her instead, asking as he pulled back,

“Shall we get ready for dinner?”

She laughed as she kissed him again.

“Yes, but probably in different rooms.”

 


	6. Time to Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fitz & Simmons get some things off their chests.

Fitz fidgeted, as they walked to the bistro by his apartment, his desire to hold her hand returning. Even with everything, it felt intimate, and he was unsure. Besides, Jemma's hands were occupied as she eyed her phone, directing them toward the restaurant.

“Two bloody PhD’s and I can never really tell if the arrow is pointing me in the right direction,” she huffed, stopping to look around at the landmarks "it should be right here...”

Fitz did the same, eyeing down to the GPS and then back up.  
  
“Oh - over there - on the corner.”

“Thank goodness, I’m starving.”

She grabbed his hand and led him forward.

Fitz thought happily that he’d probably follow her anywhere if she asked.

It had gotten late for the dinner hour and they were sat quickly, Jemma keeping hold of Fitz’s hand as they followed the host to their table. He was disappointed to have to drop it as they settled in to their chairs, and the conversation flowed easily as they talked about wine & starters and what they’d been working on earlier that day.

“I think I’m close to testing with the Mouse Hole,” Fitz told her as he laid down his menu, ready to order.

“Really? Is that what you were looking at with your team this afternoon?”

“Mmhmm. Ott has been working on the radial components and Diaz has been testing the laser implements. The trick is in the fractal design though - I’ve been having trouble there.”

“Do you - would you like another pair of eyes?”

“You wouldn’t mind?”

“Fitz, you know I’m always here - for...whatever you need.”

She hadn't meant it to infer anything, truly, but she felt her stomach send a pulse to her groin as his gaze heated.

“In fact - if you could, return the favor, I need a second opinion on the serum samples I’ve been testing. One of the field teams sent in something they came across on a recent op and I can’t make head or tails of it.”

“Happy to help Simmons.”

She grinned as he sent a thousand watt smile her way, and as she opened her mouth to compliment it, the waiter came. They ordered food and started back in about their projects at work, and before they knew it they’d finished their meals.

When the check was dropped, they both went for it and Fitz grabbed the bill firmly.

“I’m paying. I know we haven’t...had a chance to talk, about, everything...yet, but, this is - I want - I wanted to take you out.”

“Thank you.”

She studied him for a moment as he set out his credit card and she felt a familiar affection. One that had always been there but felt...stronger now.

“I missed you.”

Fitz looked up and the earnesty in her eyes was striking.

“I’m sorry I’ve been - I’ve been avoiding you," he began to explain, "I won’t pretend I haven’t been. I want you to know I didn’t ask to get re-assigned, but when it happened, I...I didn’t argue - I thought it would be easier than...”

“Than trying to figure out what you were feeling?”

There was another pause as their server took their payment and Fitz spoke quietly.

“ - and I’m sorry for that Jemma, because maybe, maybe there’s something I could have said, or done, or, if I could have...just, talked to you, maybe I...but I didn’t even - I didn’t even - I don't think I even knew what I wanted until you...until you - until last night.”

She wanted to lean across the table and kiss him.

She wondered how she had made it through the whole meal without pouncing him, honestly. Jemma settled with reaching her foot out next to his and up his ankle under the table.

He raised his eyebrows at her and she spoke soft and deep.

“Tell me what you were thinking about...last night, beforehand.”

His eyes answered as they traveled down to her cleavage and she leaned forward.

“Were you thinking about me Fitz?"

“I was trying not to.”

“Why?”

“It seemed wrong - I didn’t, Jemma I didn’t - I don’t, I don’t want to objectify you. Last night was the first time since you've been staying with me that I - that I...”

Her heart was kicking up pace as she watched him, eager to hear his words.

“That you thought about me?”

“No - that I, that I realized how badly I wanted you. It was...it was the first time I let myself admit that it was...”

He reached across the table and took her hand.

“That it was real.”

Her body tingled from his touch and Jemma looked around for the waiter, wondering how quickly they could leave. He returned with the bill fold but Fitz did not move immediately. He looked down at her hand, running his thumb across it, and she felt the warmth of his touch travel up her arm. Her skin was soft and Fitz inhaled a shaky breath as he imagined himself running his hand up her arm, and across her shoulder and against her neck. He sucked in air and finally had to disconnect himself to sign the receipt.

Jemma sat there for a second, watching him as he stood up, and she looked at him with a reverence he didn’t think he’d ever seen in her eyes before. When he caught her gaze she smiled and he grinned back as she stood up. He offered his hand comfortably now and they made their way out of the restaurant.

They were only a few steps down the street when he pulled her around a corner and stopped them.

“I want to finish what I was - what I was saying,” he told her, taking both her hands in his.

“I didn’t - I wasn’t - I’ve been going out a lot but I haven’t been. I haven’t been..." 

He took a breath.

"It's not like I’ve been sleeping with a bunch of - I was just trying to stay...busy, I...I haven’t even...”

God this was awkward.

“I was trying, I was trying to ignore what I was feeling, that's why I was avoiding you - and I’m sorry for it - I truly am.”

She looked around for a moment and then down at her feet before looking back up at him.

“What were you trying to ignore?”

“This. This feeling. Of wanting you. Of, of thinking about you...of wanting to touch you, and see you, and god, last night, you...you were in that...you were barely wearing anything, and -”

“It was a tank top and shorts, Fitz.”

He dropped her hands as he gestured.

“I could see all the way down your shirt and it was maddening!”

She breathed out a soft chuckle and stepped forward, her eyes darkening.

“What was maddening about it?”

He knew exactly what she was doing and a part of him wanted to tease her back but it was nearly impossible to tear his gaze from where she had begun running her finger across the collar of her shirt.

“I wanted to see them.”

“See what?” she asked with a feigned innocence in her voice, taking another step, causing him to back in to the wall.

“Your boobs.”

She smiled, cheeks high, and unbuttoned her second button.

“What else did you want?”

“Jemma we shouldn’t do this here.”

“Do what?”

She reached for his hand and brought it up, hovering over her chest.

“I want to touch you.”

“Who’s stopping you?”

He looked around briefly - it was late and the street seemed to be fairly deserted. He pulled her back with him and snaked a hand around her waist. Her fingers were still rested around his wrist and he looked down at the cleavage peeking from her top.

“I wanted to see them,” he continued, running his fingers over the tops of her breasts, “I wanted you to pull off your shirt and expose yourself to me. Like you did last night - and earlier.”

“I wanted you to touch me,” she responded, pressing his hand against her as her forehead fell against his, “I thought about you all week - I, I thought about you, with other women, and I wanted that to be me. I wanted you to be touching me.”

He brought both hands up, cupping her breasts, and he ran his thumbs across her nipples.

“God, Jemma, you’re the only person I want.”

She sucked in a breath as she accosted him with her mouth and Fitz palmed her firmly as he kissed her back, sucking her tongue in to his mouth. Jemma wrapped her arms around his neck as he felt her up, and when Fitz began to pull at her top, she had half a mind to let him disrobe her there in the alley.

“I want to see you,” he ached in to her mouth.

She moaned back against his touch and kissed him, pressing her pelvis against his.

He licked the underside of her tongue as their mouths thrashed against each other and slid his palm down her cleavage, cupping her breast under her top.

Fitz whined against her mouth as his hands searched for space to feel her properly and the sensation tensed her body as she kissed him firmly before dislodging herself regrettably.

“Come on.”

~

They were wordless as they made their way down the block, and, thankfully, they were back at his apartment in no time. As they popped in to the elevator to head to his floor, the minute the doors closed Fitz knew they were in trouble.

He was barely of his own mind as he pressed her against the wall, his hands and mouth on her. Jemma pulled him in to her for a moment, taking in every part of him she could against her body, and she unwittingly searched for his pelvis with hers.

He slid his lips across her neck without aim, pawing at her, fighting the urge to get her shirt off again, and with nearly reckless abandon, as the elevator doors opened, he jostled her down the hall to his front door.

They stumbled and Fitz pressed her up against the door again, his mouth hot on hers as she kissed him back, hands roaming. He fumbled in his jacket pocket for his keys and tried to unlock the door with minimal success. Finally he stilled, his lips not moving from hers as he got the key in and turned the knob. They broke for air as they slipped through the doorway and immediately they were both removing clothes. Jemma’s blouse hit the floor while Fitz yanked off his belt and tie. She kicked off her flats and went for the button on her jeans as he pulled off his shoes.

When he looked up she was down to her underwear and camisole. Her chest was heaving again and he didn't think he’d ever get over the sight of her like that, half clothed and anticipating. He stopped and took her in, thinking back to what he had told her he wanted, and he had no doubt that it was all better than he could have ever imagined.

He reached up to her neck as he stepped closer, pulling her into a kiss, and her hands came up to his collar as their lips seared together. They pushed and pulled each other towards the wall of the living room and Fitz held her softly as he kissed her firmly, his tongue lapping in to her mouth, as Jemma started to unbutton his shirt.

They continued kissing as she undid him, and when she got to the final button, she moved to his jeans, and he slowed, pulling back, looking at her.

“Is this what you wanted? When you thought about us - about me?”

“Yes,” she breathed heavily, desire thick in her voice.

“What else did you think about? What else do you want?”

“I, I thought about you - with...with women, with other women. I know...I know what you’ve said, but, I - I couldn't stop picturing it.”

She brought a hand up around his head and looked at him earnestly.

“I’ve been...jealous...absolutely jealous,” she explained “I don’t - I don’t know where it started...maybe with, just, us, being...a bit distant...and you - I didn’t even, I just knew you were going out and I,” she closed her eyes, tensing, “I - every night, I was thinking about you and how you were probably with someone and how much I wanted that to be me.”

She ran a hand up through his coarse waves and he looked at her, thumbs stroking her jaw.

“There's no one else.”

Her chest tightened and she smiled, pulling his lips to hers.

“This is what I wanted,” she told him, kissing him again, “I wanted you. Touching me. Kissing me. Holding me...wanting me.”

“I’ve never wanted anything so much.”

She stilled, looking at him with incredulous eyes.

“I mean it...Jemma, I think - I think, unless I’m missing something I think we’re on the same page here...right?”

She nodded, expression still slightly disbelieving.

He smiled as he searched her face, taking it all in, then kissed her hard as he pressed her slowly against the wall.

“I want you,” he mumbled across her breast, his hands coming up her shirt.

“I’m yours,” she answered.

He moaned against the swell of her and reached to the straps of her bra and tank top, pulling them down.

“I want to see you.”

As Jemma slipped her arms out of the straps, she reached around to undo her bra and she moved it aside as Fitz pushed her top down, freeing her. His hands came up to cup her roundness immediately, and he leaned down, kissing across the top of her as he squeezed firmly.

She brought her hand back to his neck, fingers soft across the hair at his nape, head falling back, when, suddenly, Jemma's eyes popped open.

“I’m sorry about what I said yesterday - about your clothes, and your hair - that it wasn’t you.”

He stopped, not sure how to respond.

“I was - I was just, maybe a little...I don’t know...”

He kissed her sternum and his hands moved to her rib cage as he stood up straight, pressing his chest against hers.

It took concentration to focus on her face, but the strain in her voice told him he needed to hear her out.

“I was just...being resentful, and...perhaps, trying to pick a fight,” she admitted.

“Why?”

“I didn’t - I don’t...I don’t like, the idea...that there’s a part of you that I don’t...I don’t know.”

“Oh...” he paused, a bit unsure how to respond, “...do you want to talk about it?”

His question was gentle and his hold comforted her. She looked at his kind eyes and knew with every ounce of logic in her that they should talk.

“I want you to take me to bed,” she responded instead.

He stayed for a second, wondering if he should push the topic, but it was all too easy to reason that neither of them were going anywhere and there would be more time to talk later.

“As you wish,” he kissed against her lips.


	7. What You Want

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fitz & Simmons tell each other what they want.

They moved clumsily down to his bedroom, stealing kisses as they went, and Fitz guided her next to his bed as they entered the room. The apartment was dark and he turned on the lamp next to his bed, lowering the light to a gentle amber.

Jemma pulled her top off the rest of the way and dropped it while he did the same with his button up. He took her in, his eyes thirsting over her curves, and he reached out, a hand around her waist as he kissed her sweetly.

“I want to look at you” he repeated, his other palm swooping slowly down the slope of her rib cage.

She closed her eyes and smiled serenely, a warmth filling her chest and her legs as she nodded, approval thrumming from her throat.

Fitz kissed her again, leading her back onto the bed, shedding his trousers and t-shirt, before descending in to her waiting arms. Jemma welcomed his form onto hers, satisfaction humming inside her again, and her hands swept across his sinewy frame, as she brought him close. 

He rested on top of her, bringing one hand to the side of her head as he looked at her. Jemma’s eyes closed as she took in the feel of him, and he was overwhelmed with satisfaction as he watched her enjoyment. He ran his nose up and down the side of her face and she giggled softly, skating her hands across his back.

“This is wonderful,” she told him.

He rumbled his agreement, kissing her cheek and then her mouth, his lips sweeping softly down her neck. Jemma relaxed in to the bed as he pushed her hair aside, kissing behind her ear and tugging at her earlobe with his lips, eliciting another giggle. 

He smiled against the soft skin under her jaw and kissed it again, vocalizing his gratification, and his breath against her skin evoked goosebumps. Her nipples were peaked and she ran her hand up his back as she kissed the side of his neck.

“Mmm, Fitz” she murmured, “kiss my breasts.”

He felt a quick sharp throb to his groin at her words and he moved his lips down her neck and collarbone, pushing up on one hand as he slid his mouth across her sternum. 

“Is that what you pictured,” he asked throatily, as he ran his mouth and nose over a taut nipple, “when you thought about me?”

She sighed pleasantly in confirmation.

“What else did you picture Jemma?” he whispered, before kissing her peak slowly. 

“You. On top of me. Kissing me. Touching me,” she panted softly.

She brought a hand up his arm and to his shoulder, clutching it as he kissed across her breast plate.

“Like this?”

He pressed his mouth to the curve of her breast slowly, his lips sinking in to her skin, and she moaned again.

“Did you think of me when you touched yourself?”

The idea of her, in bed, thinking about the ways she wanted him to touch her was all consuming.

Jemma sucked in air as he opened his mouth against her, his warm wet lips dragging across her tingling skin. She tensed and Fitz knew it was more than arousal. He rested on to one elbow, and looked up at her.

“You don’t have to answer that, I’m sorry if -”

“- I...I did...I...”

It hadn’t been deliberate but the honest answer was that she had. In the weeks that she’d started to think of him and his hands and his arms and his...him...she acknowledged that when she was alone, it was thoughts of him that flitted through her mind.

“I thought about you...I’ve thought about holding you, feeling you on top of me, like you are now...like you were last night, on the couch.”

She looked at him, awaiting a response, and his eyes glimmered with a scorching smile.

“Last night,” he murmured, “was that...did it...”

“Fitz, it was...everything I wanted."

He surged up to kiss her and she leaned up in to him, his chest pressed against her aching breasts as she moaned tenderly.

His tongue in her mouth was deep and purposeful, and Jemma breathed in as she intensified their kiss, angling her tongue around his. Warmth started to build in her chest, her legs, and her center. He felt so good she could barely articulate it.

“This is what I wanted,” she reaffirmed, pulling him against her hungrily, “this is what I thought about.”

Fitz balanced on one arm again as they kissed and brought his other hand up her torso, kneading her breast as she expressed herself with a long, low sigh. He slowed for a moment, stopping to focus on her lips, and he held his hand against her neck as he kissed her potently. She felt herself throb as his tongue traveled and her sound was quick & pitched up.

“This is what I wanted,” he told her, “to touch you,” he said, his hand supple against her throat, “to kiss you,” he followed, pressing his lips to hers slowly, “to see you...”

Fitz looked across the expanse of her porcelain skin and his fingers trailed across the dots that decorated her cleavage.

Jemma’s stomach tightened at the curiosities that rifled through her mind.

“Have you...thought about me?”

He looked down, his hand palming her thoughtfully, and answered quietly.

“I...it wasn’t as...vivid.”

He looked up at her.

“I really...I was trying really hard not to... think about you... like this.”

She didn't know how to feel about that - that he had been forcing thoughts of her out of his mind. A part of her felt...forlorn...that they had both been so clearly lost and frustrated in their desires for each other.

“I want you to think about me,” she told him.

Her eyes were nervous & focused.

“The next time you...when you’re aroused, when you’re touching yourself, I want you to picture me.”

Fitz didn’t move - too staggered to respond. Jemma pulled him back to her, continuing. 

“I want you to think about what you want - I want you to think about us, together.”

He took the cue, holding her firm as he kissed her passionately, and she whined again, her pelvis tipping up against his. She flashed back to the ecstasy of his tongue against her and she felt the heat of her arousal skate through her.

“Earlier,” she said, breaking their kiss, “when you...went down on me,” she continued, pressing her body against his burgeoning hardness, “I hadn’t even...I’ve never, it's never been that good before...your mouth is amazing.”

His cock twitched as she described her pleasure and Fitz mouthed down her neck and to her breast again, rolling a nipple in between his lips. He wanted to prove her right, repay her for the compliment. He wanted to take her up on her offer. To create a library of images of her lost in pleasure with him.

His tongue circled the tip of her mound and he pushed himself against her as he licked across to the other breast, sucking her nipple with fervor.

Jemma moaned repeatedly as he began to undulate against her, his tongue zealous against her peak, and she grasped at him, his shoulders, his back, as she pulled him against her dampening underwear.

Fitz could feel her warmth through their clothes and he groaned as he suckled her breast. He wanted her heat wrapped around him, and her breast in his mouth, and his hands all over her. But he didn’t want to rush - it was all too good and he wanted to savor every moment with her. He brushed away an errant thought that he needed to appreciate her while he could.

He let up for a moment, kissing her chest softly and his mouth traveled down as he brushed his lips across her stomach, his hard on beginning to ache. As he came to the band of her panties, Jemma’s legs dropped open and he couldn't help himself as he pulled them aside slowly, kissing against her. She whined, low and slow.

“Off,” she urged.

He kissed her wetness again before he pulled at the side of her briefs, and she lifted her bottom as he carried them down her legs, then pushed off his own shorts after. He snaked back up her body with his lips, tongue dragging across her skin, and as his mouth collided with hers again, he nestled in between her hips, rubbing himself against her.

“Mmm...”

Jemma kissed him effortlessly as he began to rock slowly. She held his face against hers as she took in the the feel of him, and she felt the gentle build of her pleasure and adoration mix together.

She wanted more of him, and Jemma murmured against his mouth.

“I'm ready,”

He hummed and kissed her back as his body stilled, and Fitz pecked her before reaching toward the bedside table. He focused on continuing the movement of his lips against hers as he quickly pulled a condom from the drawer, and as he leaned to his side, they parted as he readied himself.

Jemma bit her lip as she looked him up and down, his body tight and pale and his hardness full and firm. She wanted him with a tangible yearning. He looked up and as his eyes met hers he could see every molecule of desire thrumming through her.

Fitz reached for her immediately, pulling her face to his as he fell back to her, and Jemma obliged, opening her mouth and her hips. She kissed him hungrily as she reached down, positioning him at her entry, and he fell flush against her, straightening his legs as he pistoned into her firmly. Jemma grabbed him tight as he hit her center and she yearned her pleasure in to his mouth.

Fitz pressed up on to his forearms, keeping himself close as he moved in and out of her and she pulled her legs up as he pushed into her, deep and pulsing. His feet flexed, propelling him, warm waves of enjoyment running through his legs, and he kissed Jemma as she placed her hands on his lower back, pulling him in to her as he moaned softly, careening into her warmth. He relished in the feel of her, her breasts soft and tender underneath his chest, her stomach pressed against his, her lips welcoming him.

Jemma sighed, tongue loose and rudderless in their mouths, and she felt the embers of her satisfaction build as her toes curled with each thrust of him - their position affording her the depth of his motions, the feel of his skin, and the weight of his whole self on top of her, where she wanted him. They continued slowly, and she moved back and forth as he did, rocking together in congress.

When Fitz began to breathe more heavily against her mouth, slipping his lips to the side of her face as his movements became more acute, she caught her breath, pushing her pelvis up more firmly, her hips rocking quick and eager. She pressed her palms against the small of his back insistently and Fitz followed her, keeping pace as he pressed himself on to his palms, deepening his reach.

“Yes,” Jemma hissed, her hands flying to her knees, pressing her thighs open.

Fitz looked down as he moved with zeal, and the sight of her washed over him again, hormones coursing through him, spurring him on.

“Right there,” Jemma told him, a hand moving to his back again, “right there.”

Fitz stayed in his position as his arousal moved through him, and he cocked in to her fervently, relentless and focused.

Jemma began to pant noisily as she climbed and she clenched around him, her orgasm threatening. He groaned, back and forth, back and forth, and suddenly, in a burst of motion, he released, his pelvis halting. She grabbed the back of his hips, driving him against her pleasure point as he climaxed, vigorously stimulating herself to completion as they both called out in culmination.

They slackened immediately, Fitz dropping his weight on to his elbows as his mouth settled on top of hers. Jemma brought her arms around his neck and kissed him, her legs relaxing as she sighed contentedly in to his mouth.

He stayed there for a moment, his tongue sweeping lightly across her lips, and she vocalized again, effervescently pleased. As their bodies softened together, he slipped from her gently and Jemma moaned slightly, holding their kiss as he shifted.

Fitz chuckled against her mouth and did his best to continue kissing her as he did away with the condom, settling lower on the mattress, resting his torso more comfortably against her.

She pulled him back to kiss her more and their mouths were gentle and undemanding together in their waning bliss. Fitz leaned to his side, hand coming up to stroke down her neck and breast, and Jemma breathed in, breaking their kiss to exhale.

“Mmmm...”

He smiled again, kissing the side of her face, and she tittered slightly as his lips brushed across her ear.

“I think you’re ticklish here Simmons.”

She laughed and kissed his own ear.

Fitz kissed down the side of her neck and to her shoulders, drinking her in as he lovingly fondled her breasts.

“Have I mentioned how stunning you are?” he asked as his body shifted and he began to kiss down her arms.

She smiled, one of her truly radiant and excited grins, and he looked up just in time to catch it.

“You’re even more beautiful than I realized.”

“Fitz...”

“I mean it. Jemma you’re bloody gorgeous. Look at you.”

Fitz looked at her with a grin that made her stomach flip and he kissed her quickly, before resting his head and his hand on her chest.

The softness of his hair tickled across her skin and Jemma’s chest rumbled with a giggle and he pressed his lips softly against her breast as he cupped it lovingly.

“These are absolutely spectacular,” he told her.

She blushed, unsure how to respond.

She had never in a million years imagined him fawning over her like this - enamored and in wonder of her body. But she also hadn’t fathomed how attracted she would be to him. To his hips and his stomach and his butt and his thighs and his arms and his shoulders and his neck.

“You’re absolutely amazing and I’ve never been so attracted to anyone before.”

His chest bloomed full of her words and he moved a hand to her midsection, looking over her with a smile.

She brought her hand up his back and across his shoulder muscles.

“I’m extremely fond of these,” she told him.

Fitz kissed in between her breasts before looking up at her.

“My trapezius?”

She nodded with a smile - her cheeks nearly starting to ache.

“Not much to write home about I’d say.”

“I disagree,” she told him, pulling him up to her as she sank down, wrapping both of her arms around him.

“They’re firm and compact - and they might be one of your most important muscular sets,” she explained, pressing her palms against the muscles.

“Is that so?”

“Yes. They reach across three of your most attractive areas. Your back,” she said, stroking her hands across it, “your shoulders,” she continued, skating them around the tops of his rounded shoulders, “and your neck”, she finished, sliding them up to cup under his jaw and pull him in to a kiss.

He pressed his mouth against hers eagerly and she kissed him firmly before letting go, holding him close to her again.

Fitz’s legs tingled with exuberance and he lie there for a moment, his arm around her back, and he rolled them to the side as he ran his fingers up and down her spine.

She sighed, tucking her chin in to his shoulder, and let her hands do the same. Jemma knew they’d have to move eventually - she needed to use the toilet and get ready for bed at some point - but it was all too perfect, too wonderful to extricate herself from.

“Jem,” Fitz murmured, a minute later, one of his hands moving up to her neck and holding it as he pulled his head back.

“Yes?”

“I really hate to do this, but I -” 

“Need to go to the loo? Me too.”

He laughed and pecked her before pushing himself up. She watched as Fitz hovered over her, looking down for a moment and he shook his head.

“Absolutely stunning Jemma Simmons.”

He kissed her again for good measure before popping off the bed, and she admired his tight little rear as he moved to the dresser and grabbed two pair of shorts out of the top drawer quickly, tossing one on the bed for her as he pulled the others on.

She smiled as she sat up, watching with a smile as he strutted out the door towards the bathroom, and the grin didn't leave her face as she stood up, stretching before she put on the boxers, and made her way out to the kitchen for hydration.

When the cold air hit her she wished partially that she’d put her tank top back on, but she bit her lip at the appreciation she knew he would have at her state of dress.

She refilled the water glass for Fitz and met him as he came out of the bathroom.

He stopped short and looked her up and down as she offered the glass to him.

Every second that Jemma was naked in his presence felt like a miracle. Really every minute he got to spend with her at all was a gift. He’d never in life thought that this could be real - the two of them, together, sleeping together, spending time with each other in bed, seeing each other bare. It felt like a sunrise every time she walked into the room.

He didn't take his eyes off her as he drank the water and when he finished he thanked her, finally bringing his gaze to her face.

It was just as beautiful as every other part of her. Her eyes, her lips, her nose and her cheeks. He was completely besotted and couldn’t be happier about it.

Jemma’s stomach fluttered as she watched him take her in and she fought the urge to cover herself.

He thought she was beautiful. Stunning. Gorgeous. He had spent the evening lavishing her with compliments and affections.

When his eyes met hers she didn’t look away, holding his gaze and taking it in.

The soft and incredulous, nearly aching way he looked at her was enough to make her breath catch. She wondered if she had ever seen that look before and something told her she had.

“I’ll meet you in bed,” she said, stepping forward and brushing her hand over his arm.

Fitz nodded, still slightly adrift, and she kissed his cheek.

He meandered out to the main room, dropping the glass on the counter, and smiled as the clothes they’d left on the floor came in to view.

Fitz couldn’t help but smile. Never in a million years could he have even fantasized an evening like this.

He shook the reverie from his head and picked up their things, laying Jemma’s blouse out as he gathered the rest, then moved to his room to toss them in to the laundry along with the clothes that were strewn on his floor. 

When Jemma returned to the room a few minutes later - teeth brushed and face washed, he had found their phones and was plugging them in. It was late again and she thanked him for the act of service as she came up behind him, pressing a hand to his back.

Fitz stilled, breathing in her touch, and he turned around to kiss her before crawling back in to bed, Jemma following in to his arms.

They settled in to each other with ease and as Jemma curled into his side, head against his chest, she felt herself wanting say something.

She looked up at him and found his eyes closed, his dark lashes stark against his pale skin. She kissed him on the cheek instead and smiled as the corners of his mouth twitched.

“Goodnight Fitz.”

“Goodnight Jemma.”


	8. A Second Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fitz invites Simmons to be his plus one.

The morning came too soon again, with Jemma waking naturally before their alarms. Her eyes stayed closed as her hand moved across Fitz’s arm where it rested across her middle. She stayed still, breathing in his touch and willing away the day.

There was still loads they had not talked about yet, and she wanted nothing more than to spend the morning in his arms, figuring out what was next - but duty called, and they both had more than their fair share of work at the lab.

She turned her head over, facing him, and her sleepy eyes crinkled at the sight of him.

His face was downright gorgeous. Statuesque really. She wanted to run her fingers over every curve, every crease. She wondered how it had taken her so long to realize how beautiful he was, and why now, after so many years, this new connection had blossomed.

She had always thought of him as handsome but he certainly looked different now than the boy she had met at 16. His features were rounder - his face had filled out a bit. But his nose and lips remained the same.

His breath puffed out and she saw him stir in the moments before the alarm went off. They were both shocked from their comfort as their phones began to bleat out the alert and Fitz nearly whined at the noise.

“Good morning,” she mouthed, barely audible.

The corners of his mouth curled up immediately as he pulled himself closer to her, his face crumpling against her neck, and he hummed against her veins. Jemma held him close and sighed as the noise continued.

“No,” Fitz grumbled as he felt her shift.

She squeezed his arm.

“How do you ever get up when I’m not here?”

“Not happily.”

She kissed his head and moved to dismiss the noise.

As her face turned back to his Fitz opened his eyes, and the blue of them, close like this in the light of day, was absolutely breathtaking.

She held her breath as her eyes met his and Fitz’s eyebrows raised in veneration as his chest tightened.

How was he ever going to look at her again without thinking about her like this?

“Morning,” he smiled, eyelids heavy.

“Good Morning.”

She bumped her nose against his and squeezed his hand one more time before extracting herself.

Fitz groaned against the pillow, his arm reaching out as she made her way to the bathroom.

~

 

They ate their cereal side by side at the counter, trying & failing to read from their journals of choice. One kept catching the other in an admiring gaze.

“You better get it together over there Simmons, I can’t have you ogling me all day in the lab,” Fitz said as he got up to put his bowl in the sink.

She blushed and stood to discard her own dishes.

“I don’t know how I’ll get any work done if I know you’re undressing me with your eyes all day,” he told her, his voice husky.

The heat traveled to her chest and she gave him a teasing admonishment before she went to finish getting ready, Fitz pressing his lips together as he watched her walk away.

~

 

Fitz’s fingers itched with a familiar desire on their short train ride to the office, and once they were off the platform and past the crowd, he went for it, cupping his palm against hers.

She sucked in a breath and clutched his hand immediately.

Neither of them said anything but they released their grasp as they made it toward the front entrance of The Hub, Fitz squeezing her hand before he let go.

___

 

Fitz looked across the lab at Simmons, trying to figure out if she was at a good stopping point for lunch. He hoped they could leave the building for an hour and go somewhere that wasn’t the cafeteria.

Jemma glanced up long enough for him to catch her eye, and paused her work as he locked eyes with her.

“Lunch?” he mouthed, gesturing towards the street side of the building with his thumb.

She held in a small smile as she nodded and looked down at her work before turning back up to him and giving him the signal that she needed five more minutes.

~

 

“Look how lovely it is today!”

Her face was painted with a happy smile as they headed to a nearby deli and Fitz held back a desire to tell her how lovely she was as he watched her eyes close, taking in the sunshine.

Something about that kind of statement felt different outside the walls of his apartment.

“I should check my vitamin D levels,” Jemma remarked, “ - yours too - we spend too much time inside.”

“Should we go somewhere this weekend where we can take it in? The botanical gardens?” he offered.

“Fitz...”

Jemma said his name in the wistful way he was starting to become all too familiar with, and it made his belly clench.

They'd visited many of the city’s natural sites in the years they'd worked at The Hub, but it had been a while since the two of them had enjoyed any of their shared past times together.

“That would be wonderful - can we make a day of it?”

“Of course...tomorrow? Or Sunday?”

“Tomorrow. My, um, the work really is supposed to be done on my apartment end of day so I - Sunday I'll probably want to -”.

“Tomorrow it is.”

He smiled and they both ignored the unspoken topic of her living arrangement as they made their way into the line at the sandwich shop.

“FitzSimmons!” Agent Ott greeted them from line.

In light of their new standing, Jemma found it gave her a rush of comfortable enjoyment in hearing their oft used moniker.

“Hey,” he tacked on, “are you bringing a plus one to that dinner tonight?” he directed to Fitz, who was trying to control his widening eyes.

“I'm trying to figure out if it's going to be a bunch of couples.”

His stomach dropped.

“Oh, um, it, uh - kind of slipped my mind...”

“Oh, yeah, I know Diaz is going stag - we’re going to The Blue Moon after. You should come too Simmons,” he turned to her, his smile shifting, “why don’t you come as one of our plus ones and go out with us after?”

Fitz cringed. He couldn’t look at her.

As long as they'd been at Sci Ops, they had always been each other’s plus one to their respective departments events.

He was also mildly irritated that Ott seemed to be hitting on her.

“Oh I have a project I’m working on this evening, but thank you.”

Her tone was probably only perceptible to him, but Fitz knew she was covering and was a combination of thankful & mortified as they made their way to the front of the line.

Ott ordered and then stepped aside, and Fitz felt every moment of awkwardness as he encouraged Jemma forward to order first. She did so and paid for her lunch before moving towards the door.

“I’m going to wait outside,” she said with a stiff smile.

~

 

Jemma felt ridiculous.

She wasn’t upset that Fitz hadn’t invited her. She understood why he hadn’t. She was resentful though - that up until so recently, there had been such a disconnect between them that neither of them had thought to mention it.

Worse, she didn’t know how to reconcile it with their new closeness.

“Simmons...”

Fitz walked out with his order number in hand and took a seat at the small table she occupied.

“Yes?”

“I - I’m sorry I didn’t, that I didn’t ask you...to come with me to the dinner, I -”

“Fitz, it's fine - things have been...out of sorts...it, I know it doesn’t...you don’t have to apologize.”

“I wasn’t even sure if I was going to go.”

She looked down.

“I don’t think that’s true Fitz.”

“What?”

“I think if we hadn’t...”

She gazed back up at him.

“If everything hadn’t happened...the other night, and - if we...”

Her eyes fell to her wringing hands.

“If we hadn’t...well...”

She faced him again.

“I think you can admit that you would have gone stag and gone out after with everyone and...”

It hurt her stomach to think about it. What he would have gotten up to. She couldn’t shake it.

He wanted to argue with her, but she was right.

“I - it's not...that’s not what I would have wanted.”

“But it's what you would have done.”

She wasn’t angry but forthright and Fitz couldn't help but feel like he’d done something wrong.

Jemma felt the guilt roll off him.

“I’m sorry - I don’t - I don’t know why I - I...Fitz it - I...there’s been this, this-”

“Number Seventy Eight. Number Seventy Nine!”

She stood up, her sentence incomplete, and Fitz sat in the marination of their unfinished conversation.

When she returned with their food she dropped his sandwich and potato crisps in front of him with napkins as she started peeling the paper off her wrap.

Fitz looked at his lunch for a moment, weighing the nerves in his gut.

“Jemma...I think we need - we need to talk about what - what’s bothering you. About me.”

She took a small bite, chewing as she focused on her food.

“You - last night,” he continued, “- you said - you said that you didn’t like there being a part of me that you didn’t...that you didn’t know...and that’s - that’s not what I - I don’t want that either....and that’s not what this is - I didn’t, it's not - I’ve-”

“- no, Fitz, I’m not...I don’t have any reason to be upset. You - you told me, you explained that you...”

She had no idea how to say what was so desperately trying to fight its way out of her.

“It's just that there’s been this chasm between us... and it - it's silly really, and it was petty to - to, the other night, when I said that I - Fitz, it doesn’t matter to me how you dress, or, if you...”

She pained at her attempted admission.

“...if you, if you have other friends and other hobbies, it's, well it's childish really to think we would share everything and I understand, I understand that you were - at least part of it was you, was trying to -”

“Jemma, Jemma, please..."

His voice raised slightly as he tried to cut her off.

"I, you don’t have to - I...that’s not what I want.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t want any of that - I don’t want to...I don’t want...Jemma, I don’t want to be out with other...”

Fitz sighed, his foot fidgeting under the table.

Things were so natural between them most of the time - or at least they had been. For years working side by side had come as easy as breathing for the two of them.

Even their arguments had always seemed to have a flow.

When they were in bed together too - it all seemed so connected, so effortless.

This didn't.

“I don’t want to go out with - with other women and I don’t want to do anything that I wouldn’t - that I couldn’t do with you.”

He finished, hoping he had said what he meant.

Her eyes shimmered.

“Oh...okay...”

Their conversation stalled and they both took a tepid bite of their food, Fitz breaking the silence again after a minute.

“So about this chasm...I think, I think maybe we should fix it.”

She felt a nervous burst of air in her chest.

“How so?”

“Well, how about a second date? Tonight - to the dinner.”

“A date?”

“A date. I’ll wear a jacket - you wear a dress, I’ll pick you up, pull out your chair for you...and try not to stare at you all night.”

His eyes twinkled.

“A date...dating - is that, is that what we’re doing?”

“...I’d like to think so...”

Dating.

It seemed a bit...strange, but when she started to analyze it, it made sense. They wanted to spend time together, they were sleeping together, going out together.

They were dating.

The longer she thought about it she began to smile and she nodded as he began to grin in response.

“Alright - it’s settled then.”

He took a satisfied bite of his sandwich and continued, mouth full.

“S...sorry for the short notice...should I pick you up at your place later so that you can get something to wear?”

She continued eating, nodding again, and asked.

“Wait, did you RSVP with a plus one?”

Fitz thought for a moment then nodded.

“Yeah - the invitations were a while ago, I would have planned to bring you.”

She smiled again.

**___**

 

The light of the spring day was fading and Jemma noticed immediately how beautiful the sunset was.

“Oh look at the colors in the sky,” she encouraged, grabbing his hand and pointing. 

Fitz turned his head and gave in to the moment, squeezing her hand as he took in the pink and orange painted across the blue sky.

Jemma leaned against his arm, linking her fingers with his, and brought her other hand to grasp his bicep.

He fought the urge to look at her, and instead he said,

“I’m glad we’re going out again.”

“Me too Fitz. Really.”

She looked up at him and he allowed his eyes to meet hers - the sight sharp & warm. Her hair was pulled half back and her features were darkened with makeup. She was as gorgeous as ever and he couldn’t stop himself from leaning down to kiss her.

Jemma sighed sweet & slow as their lips met softly, and she squeezed his hand again as they parted, taking in a breath.

~

 

As they exited from the cab it dawned on Fitz that they’d not discussed what going on a date in front of their colleagues should look like.

He held the door for her as they walked in to the hotel, and as he entered behind her, he felt himself naturally inclined to press a hand to her back.

While he had no intention of feeling her up while they were sitting at dinner, he wondered if it would be more or less odd to completely avoid touching her all evening. 

She smiled at him just then, bringing a sense of comfort, but no additional clarity, and as she began to take her jacket off, he followed his instinct to assist her. 

She had been wearing it when he picked her up, and when she removed it, turning to take it from him, his heart squeezed at the sight of her.

Her dress was flowered, pinks & purples against white, and it brightened the rosiness of her luminous face even further.

How had he gone all these years existing in the overflow of her radiance and not noticed how sensational she was?

Jemma felt her chest burn at his gaze and she bit her lip as they locked eyes, the apples of her cheeks high. He didn’t have to say anything to tell her what was going through his head. 

He offered his arm and she hooked her hand in his elbow.

~ 

 

“So, Simmons, where have you been hiding?”

 Jemma paused as she ate her salad, turning to Agent Ott.

 “Oh I was on holiday with my family for a bit - have been getting caught up and all that I suppose.”

“Not off with a boyfriend then?”

She felt Fitz tense on the other side of her. It was clear that Ott was trying to casually suss out her relationship status and she wasn’t quite sure what to say. Once again, they hadn’t taken a moment to talk before the dinner and she felt odd about the mixed feelings she had in answering the question. 

“I did just start seeing someone.”

Fitz froze, trying to remain passive as he poked at the lettuce on his plate.

“Oh - cool...he, uh, he doesn’t mind you spending the evening with us then?”

Jemma’s eyes twinkled.

“Oh no - he knows Fitz well.”

Fitz nearly choked as he took a drink of water.

“Right, well...looks like my drinks empty - I think they’re gonna start presentations soon, can I get either of you anything...?”

“No thank you,” Jemma gestured to her half full glass of wine.

Fitz shook his head and as Ott walked away she held in a chuckle, scooting closer to him under the table, and putting a hand on his knee. She gave him a casual glance as the others at their table chatted, and he was watching the other agent walk away with a fire in his eyes.

She felt a strange...satisfaction... at his jealousy. Having spent the last several days feeling a bit mad at her own envious thoughts, she was slightly vindicated to know that he was not immune to the unfavorable emotion himself.

Fitz took in a breath, Jemma’s hand still on his thigh, and he rested his hand on top of hers, squeezing it. He locked eyes with her for a brief moment before turning back to his place setting, taking a large sip of his beer.

He was still irritated at Ott but he reminded himself what Jemma had said.

She was seeing someone. Him. She was seeing him. 

 Unbelievable as it was, he felt the most sure when they were connected like this. Holding hands or embracing or sharing a long look. When he was touching her he knew everything between them was real and good.

Jemma felt her stomach tighten and she knew if she didn't move it would be hard to extract herself from his grasp. She could barely look at him as it were for fear that she’d get lost in his eyes again.

As she was about to begin a new course of conversation she was distracted by the head of the engineering department making her way across the stage toward the dias at the front of the room. She squeezed his knee back before letting go and he held her fingers for a second as they slipped away.

Agent Bloom began with a greeting to the attendees and moved in to a slide show of the innovative work that had been accomplished that year. She spoke as entrees were delivered and the room was attentive as the woman discussed the cutting edge technology that had been built by the great minds of their department.

 As was customary, several minutes in she began sharing accolades for that year’s greatest achievements.

 “...and a special recognition we’d like to give out this year is to one of SHIELD’s best and brightest. He is one of the youngest and most progressive minds in our department, with a focus on technology that solves problems big and small - ladies & gentlemen please join me in congratulating this year’s Samberly Honoree, Leo Fitz.”

Jemma gasped as she turned to Fitz with a delighted smile and Diaz clapped him on the back immediately. She beamed at him as the other agent urged him up.

He was in a bit of a daze as he made his way up to the podium and his boss handed him the plaque. Luckily it wasn’t expected for him to make any sort of speech, so, after a couple photos, he humbled back to their table, where they were all giving him a standing ovation.

Jemma came at him first, hands around his shoulders to hug him excitedly. As she pulled back he noticed a familiar look in her eyes and in a moment of calculation her mouth shifted as it came towards him, landing on his cheek.

His stomach flipped and she blushed slightly as she pulled away, talking rapidly as he began accepting hand shakes.

 “The Samberly honor is quite an accomplishment - Aloysius Samberly was a key contributor during the SSRs early days and it's likely that he worked directly with Peggy Carter herself!”

 As Fitz took a seat he handed her the plaque and she looked at for a moment, running her fingers over the inlay. She was so incredibly proud of him and it shone on her face as she handed it back to him.

 He communicated silently with her again and her belly tightened at the gratitude on his face. She touched his arm for a moment as she said audibly, not taking her eyes off him.

“I’m going to the ladies room.”

As Jemma stood up he watched her walk away and before he could decide how to inconspicuously follow her, Diaz leaned toward him.

“Dude, you’ve still got it bad for her don’t you?”

The man had called Fitz out not long after her return for staring at her in the lab and had encouraged him one night over drinks to either do something about it or take his mind of it.

This time he knew exactly what he wanted to do about it.

He didn’t answer as he got up, but he cleared his throat as he hung his jacket on the back off his chair.

“Gonna use the toilet,” he commented unconvincingly.

Diaz cocked one eyebrow.

As he made his way toward the bathrooms in the lobby Fitz wondered if he’d be able to find her. Lucky as ever, she was already a step ahead of him.

“Oh Fitz - come see this sculpture by the elevators,” she called from the other end of the hall.

“It's really quite interesting - seems to have some influence from different - follow me.”

Her tone shifted as soon as they were out of earshot and she led him down a hallway that seemed fairly deserted. 

“I told someone from the staff that I wasn’t feeling well and they let me know there is a more private washroom down here.”

She grabbed his hand as she pulled him inside and locked the door behind them, taking his face in to her hands immediately as she kissed him.

“Fitz I’m so proud of you.”

“Thank you,” he muffled against her lips as she went in for another kiss immediately.

“You’re so incredibly smart and talented and not just that but your designs help people! They help agents do their jobs and complete missions and really Fitz it’s just amazing. I’m so glad that everyone gets to see what I’ve known for years.”

She was still cupping his cheeks as she looked at him with amazement and Fitz’s eyes were big as he took in her adulation.

“What's that then?”

“That you’re not just brilliant and wonderful but also kind and hard working and talented and smart...and handsome...and sexy.”

Her gaze took a turn as her thumb moved across his bottom lip and his chest tightened.

“I don’t think I got this award for being sexy.”

Her eyes were hooded as she smirked.

“I suppose I’ll have to think of away to reward you for that then.”

Her lips replaced her finger, pressing against the protrusion of his bottom lip, and she sucked it in her mouth, sliding her tongue across it as she scraped it with her teeth.

Fitz groaned, his cock rising to attention immediately, and she pressed her chest in to him as she opened his mouth with her tongue.

His hands were on her hips, pulling her towards him as he kissed her back eagerly, and with her heels on they were exactly the same height. It put her at the perfect angle to take charge, holding the back of his neck with one hand while the other pulled down to his belt, her hand hooking in to his waistband while she devoured his mouth.

Fitz tensed at the rush of blood to the growing ache inside his pants, and she pressed her palm against the front of his trousers. He pulled her flush with him, pushing back against her hand, and her mouth traveled to his neck as she began to undo his belt.

There wasn’t much space for her lips with his tie and shirt in the way, so she settled with her mouth in one of her favorites spots - his too as far as she could tell - sucking at the skin directly under his jaw.

Her other hand moved down too, fingers scraping softly against his dress shirt, as she asked,

“Can I touch you?”

Fitz thought he might go off at the simple thought of her hand wrapped around him. He closed his eyes as his head fell back against the bathroom door, nodding and mumbling an assent.

She smiled, kissing across the underside of his chin, and as she began to undo his button she said,

“By the way, this is isn’t just because you won an award - although I do find scientific accomplishments exciting - it’s also because you’re very arousing.”

As she finished her sentence, her hand traveled down his belly, behind the band of his underwear, and she made a ring of her fingers around his hardness.

Fitz grabbed both sides of her head immediately, sucking her tongue into his mouth as he groaned loudly at the sensation.

Jemma stroked him firmly, opening her mouth to his tongue again and they thrashed against each other as she started moving, pressing his shorts down for more access.

She regretfully parted from his lips as she looked down, licking her lips, and she realized how much she wanted him in her mouth. She wished they were at home, where she could press him back on the bed and relish him.

She looked back up at him, eyes dark, and in a fit of desire, licked her unbusied palm before stroking him with her saliva.

“Oh shit,” Fitz clenched, fluid easing slowly from his tip.

She slid the pre cum down his shaft, combining the moisture, then brought back her dominant hand to stroke him more fervently.

“Yes,” he moaned, his hands back on her hips and his head against the door.

She kissed his throat again, now content with her pace and position, and ran her tongue up his adams apple.

“I want to do this with my mouth too,” she told him.

“Fuck.”

Fitz sucked in a breath and jutted it out, his breathing unsteady.

He pictured her in front of him like she was, but at home, in their bedroom - his bedroom - on her knees in front him, naked and perfect with her mouth around him.

“Kiss me,” he grunted, his hand moving up her back. She steadied one hand against his chest as she slid her lips up to his and began kissing him, wet and messy, as she sped up.

His arousal released again and she used it to her advantage, loosening her grip just enough to spread it over his length as she continued, slowing her tongue as they both panted into each other’s mouths.

Fitz’s hand flew down around hers, tightening the grip, and she followed his lead, mouth falling again to to his neck as she worked at his erection.

“Tell me when you’re close,” she breathed.

“Oh god, yes, keep talking.”

“I want you to finish. I want you to come. I want to do this again when we get home. I want to touch you all the time. I want you naked right now so I can touch more of you.”

He started to thrust hard into her hand and then he guided her fingers down.

“Here.”

He pushed her hand lower as he took up his full grip on his own shaft and she fondled his undercarriage as he started jerking off.

“Oh GOD.”

Heat rose in Jemma’s own body as he called out and she wanted him badly.

“I want you,” she told him again, “I want you all the time. I want you to come, Fitz, for me.”

She tugged at him firmly and he called out again.

“Oh god! God! Oh...god, yes, yes, oh, I’m...I’m coming...”

He turned away from her as he began to release in earnest and she pressed against his back, kissing his neck as he came, and Fitz whimpered as he finished in to the bin next to the bathroom door.

He breathed out with a relieved groan as he pulled up his pants, and she nuzzled against him as he leaned back against the door again.

Jemma was aroused by his arousal, and as she went to kiss him again she said,

“We need to get out of here, you’re wearing way too many clothes,”

“Can you wait until we get back to mine or should we get a room?”

His smile was soft and his eyes sparked.

“Don’t tempt me,” she pressed in to his lips.

“Insatiable...and absolutely amazing.”

He pulled her in for a firmer kiss and as she began to press against him, he groaned.

She pulled back immediately and he winced.

“Just a little sensitive.”

She breathed in deep, trying to refocus.

“Here...”

She kissed him quickly before grabbing a couple paper towels and wetting them slightly, handing them to him to clean up while she washed her hands.

Fitz put himself back together and then did the same, breathing in deep himself as they straightened up before heading out the door.

“I just need to get my jacket,” he told her as they headed back to the ballroom.

“Me too,” Jemma reminded him, her hand fluttering next to his as she fought off the urge to hold it.

“FitzSimmons - hey!” 

Diaz approached them, a group of folks behind him.

“Wondered where you two went...”

He looked a them for just a second too long before continuing.

“Looks like this is winding down - ready to head out?”

Fitz opened his mouth decline but Jemma stopped him with a hand on his forearm.

She thought about what she’d said earlier, that she didn’t want keep him from other activities, but ideally to share them with him.

She cocked her head and he raised his eyebrows then she nodded almost imperceptibly.

“Yeah - we’ll come for a drink.”


	9. Be Mine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jemma is kind of possessive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A nice long chapter.

“So, Simmons, sounds like you’ve got a new guy?”

The bar was crowded and loud on the Friday evening, and Diaz leaned around Fitz as he questioned. 

"He doesn’t mind you out with a bunch of us, does he?"

The twinkle in his eye hinted at motive and Jemma decided she’d inquire about that more later.

“As you can imagine, it being the 21st century and all, most men aren’t particularly scandalized by a woman being out in public with with her colleagues.”

Diaz smiled at Simmons, then Fitz, and before he could ask another question, she changed course.

“It sounds like you all come here often?”

“Yeah - Fitz here has kicked my ass at quite a few games of darts.”

Jemma’s eyes went to Fitz as happy thoughts flashed of many evenings past at the Boiler Room.

He seemed to be paying only half attention to the conversation though, eyes roaming the room, and she noticed his leg was shaking under the high top table.

“He’s a pretty big hit around here,” the fellow scientist added, “Real popular with the regulars.”

The man nudged Fitz’s shoulder and Jemma felt a tinge in her stomach but it was soon overtaken with a new...appreciation....for the comment. It had become abundantly easy to see what Diaz - and probably Ott too, now that she thought about it - was up to and Jemma held back a grin.

It felt silly that she had ever been jealous of him spending time with them, especially now that it was clear they had seen what she had not. Any notion of envy began to melt away as she came in to the reality of the situation.

“Well that’s not surprising I suppose.” 

Jemma smirked at Diaz as she put a hand on Fitz’s arm and his attention seemed to return to them. He looked at her hand, then to Jemma and Diaz in turn, and he could have sworn the guy winked at Simmons before turning away to the other side of their group.

She moved her hand back casually, a smile still settled on her face as she took a sip of her drink, and Fitz gave her the once over.

It occurred to him how much he’d seen her smile in the last couple days and it gave him a warmth of satisfaction. They had told each other volumes in the past two days about their affection and desire for each other and it was clear that them going from friendship to dating was already having a very positive effect.

“So, tomorrow - the arboretum - I think we should go when they open and then have lunch after?”

Jemma changed topic and he nodded.

“Sounds great.” 

He was distracted again however and Jemma took note that it was the third or fourth time since they’d been there that he seemed to be on the lookout.

“Fitz are you - are you looking for someone?”

“What? No!”

His response was too quick and strangled to be believed.

She looked at him surreptitiously for a moment and then her stomach squeezed as she realized - he was keeping his eye out for someone he might recognize.

“Yes you are.”

Her voice was low and her head tilted in the way it did when she knew he was being less than honest about something.

“No...I, I just...I - maybe we could...” he looked toward the door and nodded his own head and Jemma opened her mouth to protest again but decided against it.

“Would you like to leave?”

He began to ask if that was okay but when he caught the careful look in her eyes he changed tact.

“Yeah,” Fitz nodded.

She gave him a small smile and turned to the group.

“I’m afraid we’ll have to call it an early night. Have plans in the morning. What do you say we meet you here for happy hour again on Tuesday?”

She moved swiftly, not particularly giving anyone time to argue, and Fitz waved lamely goodbye as he followed, barely missing Diaz’s aside to Ott.

“Man, he’s got it bad.”

~

“That was impressive.” 

“Oh it's simple really - learned it in the subterfuge class at the academy. You’d be surprised how little people protest when you don’t give them the time to do so.”

He uttered a quiet laugh, taking her hand as they headed down the street towards his apartment and she commented.

“I’m glad to know this place is so close to your flat. You could have said something when you were -” 

Jemma stopped herself. 

It didn’t matter anymore. 

She knew where he’d been. She knew what he’d been doing. She knew why he’d been out - and who he’d been with. She understood now that she’d not given him or his mates enough credit.

“Nevermind. So - tomorrow, can I talk you into getting up at a decent hour?”

“That depends I suppose.” 

“On...?”

“How tired I am...”

His eyes flickered and Jemma bumped her hip against his. She couldn’t deny that she was excited at his desire for her, but she was also still slightly bothered by what had happened at the bar. 

She leaned against his arm and Fitz kissed the top of her head. He breathed in as they walked, thinking about how at ease it felt when it was just the two of them - it always had, really. Now more than ever.

He also couldn’t wait to get her home and out of her dress - and pick up where they had left off. 

~

As Fitz set his award on the coffee table, Jemma slipped off her shoes and he took of his jacket swiftly, tossing it on the couch, before going to help her with hers. As her collar slipped down he brushed his lips across the back of her neck and Jemma breathed in at his touch. 

He threw her coat on the couch as well and brought his hands up to her dress, undoing to the top hook.

“Can I help you out of this?” he asked, his fingers starting at the zipper.

“Mmmhmmm.”

He began to pull at the tab, his other hand skimming around her waist, and her head fell back to his his shoulder as she brought her arm over his.

Fitz set his face against hers as he started to push at the sides of her sleeves and Jemma began to close her eyes, taking in the feel of his hands against her, when suddenly,

“Wait...”

She turned around in his arms, keeping him close to her, and took in a pained breath. 

“I need - I need to know. Were you - at the bar - were you looking for someone?”

“What?” his hands stilled and she held firm to his forearms.

“You looked like you were watching for someone - is it - the...the girl, the girl you - the girl from the text?”

His stomach dropped. He hadn’t realized he was doing it at first, but then when she’d asked him at the bar he had fibbed his reply.

“Yes.”

She nodded, her face falling.

“Thank you for answering me honestly.”

Fitz felt a tinge of guilt that she’d had to ask him three times before he did so.

“Have you - is she...is she someone you...”

“No. I - we didn’t - I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the truth earlier... we went out a couple times...three times. I didn’t - we didn’t...have sex.”

She was still holding him close and Jemma looked up, eyes nearly critical of his expression. Fitz fought the urge to pull away from the uncomfortable topic.

“But, you - you went out - multiple times...recently.”

He nodded.

She nodded back, now full of more questions than answers.

“Were you going to ask her out again?”

“I don’t know - I think...maybe...yeah.”

Jemma felt tears forming and she willed herself not to let him go. She didn’t want this to push him away. 

Fitz looked at her with a nearly helpless concern in his eyes. He knew she wasn't angry but the hurt in her face was clear.

“Is there anyone else that you’ve...that you were still seeing, or that, that you - do you...” she breathed out, unable to complete her sentence.

“No. I’m not - I haven’t - I haven’t, there’s not, there’s anyone else that I - any... loose ends.”

He cringed at his own words.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t - that’s not what I meant - I...”

He took in a deep breath and his hand was stiff against her back.

“There’s not anyone that I - that I ... it's not like that. It wasn’t like that.”

“How many people have you slept with?”

He squeezed his eyes shut.

“You don’t have to tell me, but I...I want to know.”

She couldn’t help it. She had no idea what was or wasn’t allowed in this new phase of their relationship but she was consumed with a nearly unhealthy curiosity about precisely what he’d been up to.

“That’s not fair.”

“What?”

“You know I...you can’t say something like that and then pretend like I have a choice.”

“What do you mean?”

Her grasp on him slackened but she fought the urge to let go, encouraged by the fact that Fitz’s hands were still settled loosely on her lower back.

“Jemma. I’d tell you whatever, do whatever - don’t you get it - I’m completely gone for you.”

She breathed in and looked at him with an almost forlorn affection.

“Fitz, I-”

“I’ve had sex with nine women,” he looked at her directly as he answered quickly. 

“You know about two I think...from, when we were younger. I haven’t really mentioned the others...four are...more recent.”

There it was.

She should have known it wouldn’t make her feel better.

“Okay, well, I’ve -”

“I don’t want to know.”

“Oh.”

The silence settled. Fitz wanted to kiss her still. To talk about something else - or nothing at all.

“You don’t?”

“What will it get me?”

“I just thought that - we, well, if we both knew that - if everything was out in the open, we could -”

“I know the guys you’ve dated Jemma - I know you’re a smart, beautiful, desirable woman. I don’t need to know how many people you’ve slept with.”

He didn’t want to think about her with other men.

“Well I guess I’m not as evolved as you.”

“You know that’s not what I meant.”

Something about his response almost made her laugh. It was a quintessential statement of nearly every argument they’d ever had.

He looked at her confused and nearly irritated.

“I think we’re having our first lover’s quarrel.”

His mouth perked up but it did not follow to his eyes.

“Should we talk about it?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll put on tea.”

“I’m going to change.”

Fitz's expression softened and he reached his face out to kiss her forehead.

She closed her eyes to take it in before they released each other and Jemma grabbed some clothes from the closet as he want to the kitchen.

Returning a minute later in pajama shorts and one of his old hoodies, she took a seat at the counter top where they’d had breakfast earlier that day, breathing in deep.

Fitz had removed his belt, shoes, & tie, and his button up was undone over his undershirt. He smiled as he rolled up his sleeves, the sight of her warming his heart.

It was quiet as she prepared her next statement and he gathered mugs from the cupboard. Finally she spoke.

“I know that a part of the reason that I’m still...processing all this because I don’t completely understand it yet,” Jemma began.

“It...it’s come out of nowhere really, and, I’m just, just a bit lost in the whirlwind of it. I think maybe we both are. I haven’t completely had a chance to piece it together, which means I don’t...I don’t really...I don’t...I don’t know what solid ground looks like for us anymore.”

He stood by the kettle and looked at her, listening. 

“So, I - I...I keep asking myself why. Why me? Why now? What changed? When did it change?”

He stared at her for a moment before he spoke. 

“I don’t think you can dissect this Jemma.”

The kettle bleared to life.

He turned to pull it from the burner and she sat, wrestling with his words. She had been hoping for more clarity from him. Some sort of explanation about what had changed and why.

Fitz came back over with a steaming mug for her, setting it down as he splashed milk in to her tea.

Neither of them spoke as they drank their comfort and despite Fitz's statement she couldn't help but try to pull apart what was going on.

“Are you still trying to figure us out over there?” Fitz asked, a hint of nervousness in his voice.

“Why aren't you?” she answered.

The why of it all felt mostly irrelevant to him. The before of their relationship was starting to feel so far away that rehashing it seemed like a waste of time.

“It's not...there's not any order to this is there? Laws of attraction and all that?”

She thought about everything she knew about adrenaline and dopamine and serotonin and began to understand his point.

“Well when you put it that way I - we’re both attractive, symmetrical, nice skin, good hygiene. All the simple components are there. We’re very sexually compatible...”

“Very.”

He smirked and she smiled.

“Biologically there’s clearly a pheromone match - I’ve always thought you smelled good and it's even stronger now.”

“Is this your attempt at dirty talk?”

“Fitz! I’m serious. I don’t - it's not - I understand that we’re, that we’re clearly attracted to each other and although I’ve not studied it at length, the science supports that surely, but I - why now...why not...what changed?”

The science was sound but it didn’t answer her questions.

He sighed and set his tea down, looking at it for a minute before he spoke, his eyes not meeting hers.

“I’ve always found you attractive - but it's, it's like I said I - I kind of packed it away I think - a long time ago probably.”

He looked up then. 

“I’m willing to bet you did the same.”

“Are you saying we’ve been attracted to each other this whole time?”

Fitz shrugged.

She found it absolutely adorable, and in a striking answer to her own question she recalled that she always had.

“I suppose that’s...well really that’s what makes us the evolved mammal doesn’t it? The ability to rationalize, or to compartmentalize or otherwise-”

“Put the logic in biologic?”

She laughed out loud and he grinned wickedly.

A new realization dawned on her as she came to terms with what she was really having a hard time rationalizing.

“Fitz I think this is why I’m a bit...focused...on other people you’ve dated. It...I think it feels like - like we could...like we could have been together this whole time and I - maybe it...I think I’m perhaps...I’m regretting that we haven’t been.”

The thought hadn’t really occurred to him. Not in that way at least.

“I suppose we just have to make up for that then.”

His smile was closed mouth and questioning and she looked at him, nerves rolling through her stomach. She knew what she wanted to say.

“Fitz - you are absolutely wonderful and I want - I want all of you...to be mine...only mine.”

Her heart thudded as she made her point clear, and he gave her a piercing look.

“Who else’s would I be?”

After a heady moment, he walked around the island towards her and brought her hand up to his lips, kissing it before he pulled it to his heart, standing in front of her.

“Jemma, neither of us realized it, but I've been yours since the day we met.”

“Fitz...”

“I mean it. There’s not - anyone I’ve - it's not... it doesn't...it's nothing like this. What you...what we...the way I feel with you. I'm...Jemma...there’s no one that could even come close. I'm all yours.”

“Mine?” she asked quietly, standing up and pressing her other hand on top of his.

“Any part of me that you want.”

He covered their hands again, layering on top of his heart, and looked at her with an openness that made her breathe through threatening tears.

“Fitz, I think I've made it clear that I want all your parts.”

He laughed, his face pink, and pulled one of her hands up to kiss it again.

“Insatiable.”

“You know I - it's not just - it's not just that...you know it's more than that...right?”

“I do...it's not - Jemma, it's more than that for me too.”

She moved her hands to the side of his face and kissed him in response, her hands moving quickly to his button up, pushing it off his shoulders.

“Mine,” she murmured before she pulled his bottom lip between her teeth.

He grunted as his prick hardened and the mood between them shifted quickly as she pulled him against her as she backed against the countertop.

Jemma brought Fitz against her immediately, widening her stance to pull him between her thighs, and he plunged his tongue into her mouth as he felt her heat against him.

She held his face tight as she kissed him back and Fitz began to reach down to his own pants, unbuckling & unbuttoning as he loosened himself.

Jemma’s hands followed and she took over, wasting no time in getting her hand down his trousers. She licked around his mouth as she she began to stroke him, reaching down to fondle his balls, and his hands pressed atop the counter behind her as he began to grimace in pent up pleasure.

She kissed the side of his mouth before sliding her lips to his ear.

“Don’t move.”

She went to her knees then, pulling his pants & slacks to his thighs quickly. Jemma’s hand returned to his sack and she licked firm & flat up his scrotum, causing Fitz to cry out.

She took his length in her other hand as she closed her lips around his head, circling her tongue around the tip of him before beginning to bob her mouth up and down his shaft.

Her tongue undulated around him as she moved, and her hands assisted, stroking at any part of him not encased in her mouth.

Barely of his own accord, Fitz started to pulse his crotch softly in time with her motions, and he looked down as he braced himself on the island top.

“Oh god.”

His eyes closed as he bit his bottom lip and she licked hard on an up stroke, continuing to slide her hand up and down him with conviction as her mouth moved.

She circled saliva around his bulb and ran her tongue through the slit, flicking it back and forth and he whimpered, gasping in pained pleasure.

Fitz grabbed the edge of the counter, his arms and legs tensing, and she picked up pace, gathering the moisture from her mouth as she stroked him with her tightened grip. 

Her other hand went to his butt, squeezing the muscle as she encouraged him, and she caught her breath for a moment before she leaned down further, taking his entirety in to her mouth and rolling her tongue around it.

Jemma could feel herself getting wet as she worked him, and she wished his hands were on her, or that they were pleasing each other like this at the same time.

She felt his ass & thighs clench and he started to groan in a panting manner that told her he was close. She pulled him back in to her mouth, sucking hard, and she licked around his head, circling it as she hollowed her cheeks, and soon he came with a repeating noise of release. She continued sucking him as he finished, swallowing as he slumped forward, and slowly rolling her tongue up his length as she released him.

“Oh god,” he groaned out slowly, breathing heavy.

She pulled back, kissing his hip before she moved, and she slipped up between him and the counter, Fitz barely able to move out of her way as she stood. He pulled up a hand to scrub his face and she couldn't help herself as she brought her hands around to squeeze his butt again affectionately.

“Mine,” she said jovially.

Fitz couldn't see it but her eyes twinkled.

“God yes” he breathed out, finally catching his senses.

She nipped under his jaw and grasped him one more time before moving from their space, sliding out to the fridge. She poured a quick glass of water as Fitz gathered himself, then drank it down before refilling it for him.

She walked back over and smiled at him, cheeks flushed, as she handed it to him.

He didn’t break his gaze from hers as he drank it and she felt warmth pool again in her panties. He shook his head at her as he held in a grin and as he set the glass on the counter he sighed.

“I suppose it shouldn’t surprise me that you’re a bit possessive.”

His flirtatious tone was clear and she moved forward, wrapping her arms around his lower back, as she looked up at him.

“I like having you to myself...like this...”

“We are agreed on that,” he answered, leaning down to kiss her.

His lips moved slowly against hers, then across her cheek, to her ear, where he pulled her earlobe in to his mouth gently.

“That was amazing,” he whispered.

She felt a thrill up her spine that curled her toes and she sighed.

“What do you say to a shower?” he asked, pulling her into his arms as he kissed lightly around the side and back of her neck.

She looked at him with a growing smile and he grinned. Jemma dropped her hands and his sweatshirt, letting it fall to the ground as she nodded. He continued to smile as he released his slacks, pulling them off all the way, and she started walking as she pulled off her shorts.

He followed swiftly, pulling off his t-shirt, and she did the same, looking back at him and giggling as he reached for her, pulling her into his bare chest as they made their way into the bathroom, and pressing his hands to her stomach as he nuzzled his face in to her hair.

Jemma kept moving towards the shower, dragging him along, and he loosened his grip as she leaned in to turn on the water. Fitz admired the view as she bent over, her cheeks peeking out from her briefs, and her smooth and lovely back elongated as she stood up.

He reached down to pull his own underwear off, and she did as well before stepping into the fairly small tub. He took in a breath as he watched her face the water, and continued appreciating her back & bum, stepping in behind her. A moment later, Jemma, turned, facing him as she leaned her head back under the water.

She smiled to herself as her eyes went to his groin and she gave him a genuine come hither stare, so he obliged, his gaze flirtatious as he pulled her into his arms. Her hands traveled up his biceps as he leaned down to kiss her, and she opened for him, fingers tightening as she kissed him deep. Jemma pulled him against her chest and pressed her breasts against him, pulling her head from under the water. Fitz was still mostly dry, and she began to turn them, parting her mouth.

“Here, this will work better.”

She pushed him back under the water and grabbed the body wash, turning back to him.

“Put your hands out.”

He obliged and she gave them each a dollop before setting it down and gazing back up at him.

“I’ll do you, you do me?”

“Pun intended?”

Jemma simply smiled, lathering her hands and running them up his arms while he went straight for her breasts, and massaged them, stimulating her further. She closed her eyes as he ran his hands down her sides and she did the same to him, reaching down his stomach and sudsing his crotch as he fondled her bum.

“Is this washing or groping?” she asked with a laugh.

“Who’s to say really Simmons.”

She leaned up to kiss him, bringing one cleansing hand around his back and he pulled her into him, the other stroking lazily between them. They kissed under the cascading water for a bit and then Fitz started to turn her, guiding her back to his stomach.

“What do you say to some some more groping?” he asked, pulling her against his chest as he took them a half step out of the water.

She answered by guiding his hands around her front, and laying her head back on his shoulder.

He followed suit right away, sliding his hands up and down the slickness of her, pulling at her nipples as he skated up her breast, and then following his natural course back down to her mound. Fitz held one breast in her hand, rolling it in his palm as his mouth fell to the juncture between her neck and shoulder, and he started to kiss the sensitive skin there as he put pressure against her clit.

Jemma said little else as he made his way around her growing pleasure, and Fitz stimulated her, sucking at her neck as she grabbed at her other breast. She breathed softly, taking in the gentle sweeping pleasure, and her hand joined his at her center, parting her folds.

He leaned his chin on her shoulder, looking down at her as they both fondled her and it was a sight beyond explanation.

“You’re a goddess.”

She tittered and he nipped at her neck.

“I mean it,” he said huskily, swiping his fingers across the ripples of her sex.

He landed back at her clit and fondled her there for a moment before nudging her forward.

“Turn around,” he encouraged.

She did as he asked and as she moved around he started down to his knees. As she was about to ask him if he was comfortable, his hand wrapped around her ankle and began to pull it up, kissing up her calf as he scooted forward. She followed his lead as he brought one leg over his shoulder, and she pressed her palm against the shower wall.

Jemma’s clit was engorged with arousal, and as Fitz set his mouth on it she cried out. He knew they might not make it through the full act in the shower but he wanted to taste her again. To show her he was hers and he wanted her to be his.

He licked up her peak and began to wiggle his tongue against it fervently, and she keened again, her hand pulling at his hair. He held her leg tighter as he flicked his tongue against the tip of her sex and she held his head firm as she immediately began to gyrate against his mouth. Fitz gripped the edge of the tub with his other hand and loosened his mouth as she took control.

Jemma needed more pressure and she knew this wasn't going to give it to her, but she was remiss to stop them.

Fitz kissed at her briefly before pulling his own palm up to the hand in his hair and he moved it gently as he kissed up her hip.

“Let’s take this to the bedroom?” he asked, looking up at her, a clear hint of discomfort on his face.

She nodded, unable to speak, and he kissed her again before rising.

She moved first, wrapping herself in a towel and handing him one as he got up and turned off the water, and Fitz mopped his hair before toweling off his body.

The sight of her struck him and he pulled her into an embrace, kissing her.

“I’ve never taken a shower with someone before.”

Jemma delighted in yet another entry to their collection of firsts and it struck a recollection.

“I - we - I checked again, our - our screens - we’re both healthy...”

“Oh. Okay. Good...”

He was a bit thrown off but more than happy to have whatever conversation she wanted about safe sex.

“So we. We’re both - we’re both safe...and I, well, I’m on hormonal birth control as well - a shot.”

He nodded and suddenly her meaning dawned on him.

“Oh.”

He was silent for a moment as he looked at her.

“Are you sure?” he finally asked.

She nodded.

“If you are - if you’re...if you’re comfortable with...or we can wait - I can - I can show you the test results - or if you’d rather continue - ”

“No - I, it’s, I trust our results...you said we both - and we haven’t...Jemma, is this...have you ever...I...I...I haven’t ever had sex without a condom before.”

In a response that was only befitting of the singular Jemma Simmons, she lit up like a Christmas tree.

“Me either.”

“Is that what you want?”

“Only if you’re interested.”

He nodded.

She smiled and kissed him enthusiastically.

“We’ll go slow,” she said.

He nodded again and as he went down to kiss her he stopped.

“Wait, when did you check?”

“This afternoon - when I did the vitamin d tests - I was right by the way, and you’re low on iron too... I’m sorry, I should have asked.”

“After we talked?”

“Mmmhmm.”

A smile spread across his face as he realized she had been planning this - planning for them to be together more intimately.

“Insatiable.”

“I’m simply excellent at prep-”

He kissed her, pulling her towel open as he dropped his, and Jemma’s breath hitched. They stumbled together in to the bedroom, neither of them quite dry, and she fell sideways on to the bed as he dropped in front of her.

He began to kiss down her body again and she flexed her feet against the carpet as he pressed her legs apart. He ran his lips along the the inside of her thigh as he thumbed at her clit immediately and though he had every intention of going slow, as he thought about what awaited him, he was eager to make her come first, and then be inside her.

He wanted all of her. Every moment it seemed. As he focused his mouth back to her bundle and sucked it in to his mouth, Jemma cried out as she clenched at the nothingness between her legs and as much as she wanted his mouth on her clit - really, any time - she was eager for his fullness.

“I’m ready,” she told him, beginning to rut at his face again, and Fitz made a mental note to find the sexiest possible way to ask her to sit on it later.

She opened her legs further, and he continue kissing at her.

“Do you want me to keep going?” he asked - not pausing the swipes of his tongue.

“I want to come,” she whined.

He laughed and leaned forward again, remounting the position that they’d had earlier. As he pulled her forward, her ass hanging off the bed, he buried his face between her legs and sucked directly on her clit.

“Oh my god!” she cried.

He continued with abandon, not letting up as he lightly grazed her peak between his teeth and Jemma cried out again, her breath shuttering as tears began to gather at the exquisite pleasure.

“Oh I want you, I want you inside me,” she ached aloud.

He obliged her with his fingers and slid them in to her vagina as he suckled eagerly on her sex.

As he plunged back and forth she began to keen and she humped against his fingers now.

“Fitz,” she breathed, “Now, please, I’m ready, please.” 

Her body was conflicted but he heeded her words, releasing his hands and mouth as he stood up, and she positioned him at her entrance. She was slick with want and he felt it immediately as he started in to her slowly, feeling the architecture of her body.

“Oh fuck,” he expelled, the soft heat of her enveloping him.

“Fitz,” she susurrated.

He continued his pressure in to her, and as he filled her with his firmness, Fitz clenched his thighs together, planking on to his forearms as he found the right angle and pushed in to her all the way.

“Oh my god,” he exasperated, settling in to her, his movements stalled.

They lay there for a moment, reveling in the feel of each other, and Jemma pulsed her walls around him experimentally.

“Oh jesus,” he hissed.

She couldn't help her delight as she felt him surge inside of her - the feel of him was achingly good, and his mind numbing enjoyment made it even better. Fitz started to move slowly and he sucked in a guttural breath as he pressed his pelvis against hers, catching her clit.

“Oh!”

She called out sharply as he struck her sensitive nub, and Fitz began to grind against her as pleasure washed over him. She hooked her legs around his, bringing her hands to rest on his biceps as he started to move in earnest and she made eye contact with him as he slid smoothly in and out of her.

He dropped his face, crashing his tongue into her mouth and she cried out again as he felt pressure building in his body, and Jemma held him tight as he moved, luxuriating in the closeness of him.

On every second or third pass the friction of his groin passed over her clit, and she started to move against him on each stroke, her body eager for him to speed up. She almost wished she hadn’t been so hasty to have him stop what he had been doing a minute ago. She closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath, and she tightened her grip around his hips as she clenched. He pistoned forward, catching the back of her just right and Jemma yearned out loud.

“More...”

He huffed as he tried to pick up the depth and the pace, and then finally he slowed, leaning down to her ear.

“Get on top.”

Her eyes shot open and she looked at him with an expression of lust that nearly shocked him. He slipped out of her as he kissed her, and Jemma pushed him up, standing and then directing him onto the floor as she grabbed a pillow.

“Lay back and put this under you,” she urged.

She kissed him quick as he followed direction, and she moved with him, easing onto her knees, and reaching in between them as Fitz’s hands went to her thighs. 

Jemma lowered herself onto him slowly, both of them moaning as he filled her. Her wet hair fell, hanging around them as she propped herself up on one hand and began to ride him, undulating her hips.

Fitz was completely gone, lost in her body as he grabbed her hips, assisting her motion lazily. Eventually he started to counteract her movements slowly as his body willed him in to action. 

She searched for the friction she wanted as they moved, and she began to pick up and drop down with more velocity, upping her pace.

“Oh my god,” Fitz moaned, clutching at her.

She moved faster, and soon they had shifted gears. Her nipples ached and she sat up, bringing his hands to her chest.

“Touch me,” she gasped, rocking on top of him in quick, desperate motions.

Fitz obeyed, palming her breasts and twisting her nipples in between his fingers.

She sang out in pleasure, and began to pant in earnest as she worked towards her orgasm. Her throat was dry and the ache inside her began to frustrate.

“I need your hand,” she whined, and he dropped his fingers to her clit immediately.

“Fast,” she panted.

Fitz stilled his own hips as she continued control and she thrust against him with near anguish as he moved his fingers against her, trying to find a pace that complimented hers. He fell back again as his own pleasure overtook him, and his eyes fluttered open, the vision a haze as she bounced on top of him, holding his hand to her groin as he came with urgency.

He throttled in to her suddenly and Jemma could feel him finish as his hand stilled. She instinctually changed tac, falling forward and catching herself against his pelvic bone again, thrusting impatiently against him and on top of him. 

All pretense fell away as she ground her sex against his.

Fitz kept a firm hold on her hips, attempting to assist in her velocity and he cried out as he spasmed his aftershocks through her mounting.

“Oh god, oh god, Jemma, it's - it's too much.”

She fell off of him immediately, whimpering, and she couldn’t help herself as she huffed, her face wincing in unfulfilled promise.

“I’m sorry, it’s just - give me - just give a minute, I -”

“It's okay - I - it's okay - can you, can you, will you touch me?”

“Absolutely.”

She fell to his side and grabbed his hand, bringing it to her wet center, he rolled over slightly, panting against her neck, and she said.

“Two fingers, inside me, I’m so close.”

He slid them in to her without pretense and began flicking them across her g spot immediately.

Jemma let out a high pitched and trembling moan as he groaned in to her neck.

Fitz luxuriated in the feeling of his fingers inside of her and he groaned against her pulse point as he slid his fingers out, swirling it around her clit.

“Help me out,” he huffed.

Her own hand flew to her clit and she began rubbing in desperate circles as he plunged back in to her.

He knew what she needed and he knew he could do it for her.

“Jemma,” he breathed in to her ear, “I want you to come. I want to make you come together.”

She whined as she ached in to both of their hands.

“You’re so sexy Jems,” he told her, “You’re everything I want.”

He felt her start to shiver and she clamped around him.

“Come for me Jemma.”

She panted as she climbed and she almost wanted to cry at how close she was.

He began to suck at her neck and she squealed, the sensation going straight to her clit. She humped desperately, her other hand grasping at his wrist, and finally when her orgasm crashed over her, quick and sharp, she cried out his name. Jemma convulsed underneath him as she spasmed against his fingers, holding a hand to herself as she traveled through her climax.

Fitz heard the wail come through in her panting sighs and he kissed her ear.

“Please tell me those are good noises?”

She pulled him on top of her and pressed his body to hers as she whimpered in to his neck.

“Oh my god,” she exasperated as soon as she could speak.

He kissed the side of her face and brushed her hair from her forehead.

“Fitz, Fitz, that was...”

“Me too,” he kissed against her other ear.

“That was...I have no idea what just happened.”

“The best orgasm of your life?” he joked.

“Just about.”

The build up had been aching and for a few pained moments she was almost sure it wasn’t going to happen. But then, when it did, it was like fireworks.

“I mean it,” she panted, turning her head to face him better, “One of the best I’ve ever had...which is saying a lot...because there’s been an innumerable amount of them the past three days.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Really. Fitz. You are a phenomenal lover.”

He had nothing but to kiss her, and he held her face in one hand as he pressed his mouth wondrously against hers.

“God Jemma,” he kissed her again, “it's not me it's you,” he continued, kissing her neck, “you make me feel like...like nothing I’ve ever felt before.” 

He started to kiss down her body as he lavished her with compliments.

“You’re as gorgeous as you are brilliant,” he said before kissing her chestplate.

“Your breasts make me reconsider my atheism,” he told her as he took a nipple in to her mouth.

“And this - this body,” he kissed hungrily down her stomach before looking up at her, “you - you’re perfect.”

“Fitz...” 

It was impossible to know what to say when he talked about her like this.

“I mean it.”

He kissed her as he pulled her towards them, rolling her back on top of him.

“You’re smart and beautiful. Actually, neither of those are strong enough words. You’re an incandescent genius.”

“I think that’s the hormones talking.”

“I’m trying to be a romantic boyfriend.”

Her stomach flipped and a beaming grin manifested as she leaned on to one elbow.

“Boyfriend?”

He looked up at her, smile set in his cheeks.

“I'm yours...would you be mine?”

“Okay, that's fairly romantic,” she said as she leaned back in to kiss him.

“Is that a yes?” his words muffled in their kiss.

She pulled back and looked at him earnestly.

“Who else’s would I be?”


	10. Saturday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fitz & Simmons spend the day together

When Fitz began to rouse the next morning the first and most immediate sensation he felt was her.

Jemma.

She was nestled with her back against his side and he turned to her immediately, his hand sloping across her midsection as he pulled her against him. His face went to the back of her neck, breathing in her hair and her skin, and she was soft against his hardness.

Jemma was awakened slowly by the ever so wonderful feeling of Fitz.

She took in the wholeness of his body against hers. His warm hand on her stomach, his chest against her back...and his hard on settled behind her bum.

Her eyes fluttered open at the sensation as she felt the press of his face against her neck, and she arched herself back against him, eliciting a groan from Fitz.

She smiled to herself.

“Morning.”

His responding moan was somewhere between arousal and sleep - and she decided it was up to her to make it lean a certain direction.

Jemma pulled his hand up to her chest as she pressed against him again.

“It's Saturday”

Fitz didn't respond verbally but his mouth and his hips pressed back at her as he squeezed her breast.

It wasn’t long before he started pushing against her backside in earnest and she slid a leg forward, opening herself to him. He kissed in to her hairline as he reached down between her legs, pressing his thigh against hers as he jutted the tip of himself against her entrance.

“Go slow,” she told him, clenching against his palm.

He kissed her shoulder as he obliged, spreading her with his hand as he slid inside. As he filled her up the stretch was slow and she breathed out as Fitz went to the hilt. He moved his chest flush with her back, humming against her ear as he ran his nose behind it. Fitz moved his hips slightly as he took in her scent, and Jemma reached behind herself cupping his neck with affection. They were slow and quiet as he began to move and Jemma relaxed against him as she felt the gentle pleasure of their togetherness.

Fitz was extremely hard, his morning erection in his favor, and feeling her around him, with nothing between them again, was ratcheting his arousal.

“You feel so good,” he murmured.

Jemma moaned back lightly, holding his hand against her as she hooked her top leg over his, and she began to rock back as he moved forward.

The change of position incented him, and Fitz pressed his palm against her clavicle, his fingers resting on her throat as he started to move more quickly, his mouth wet on her neck.

Each motion was its own pleasure for Jemma, the feel of him so close to her bringing ebbing waves of joy. He continued moving and when Fitz started to rut she knew he was getting there. As was becoming one of her new favorite moves, she began to tighten around him, and she felt her own toes curl as he grazed against her g spot. Her hand moved around to pull him into her more firmly from behind, and she arched her back, leaning in to him.

“Oh, right there,” she murmured heavily.

Fitz kept pace as he held her firm, moving his hips with more fervor, and it was soon after that he finished gradually with a shuttered moan. He stilled inside of her as he kissed her neck and shoulders again, breathing out.

Fitz stayed, letting both their limbs rest as he hugged her. He had told her the night before that he was hers and he knew it to be true in that moment, as he laid wrapped up in her.

She put her arm over his, pulling him closer as well, and Jemma smiled, sighing with pleasure. She tightened around him again and he acknowledged he was still hard inside her.

“Do you want me to keep going?”

“Mmmhmm, slowly”

Her tone was lazy and Fitz felt like the luckiest man in the world. To be with her like this, spending their morning making each other feel good was better than anything.

His face rested on her neck as he picked up his motion again, sliding into her, then back again slowly. They had time now - time to enjoy each other - and he meant to take it.

Fitz brought his hand to her hip, resting it as he thrust into her, and her moans grew each time he pressed deep. Her pleasure was all his and he soaked it in, kissing under her ear.

“I love hearing you,” he told her.

Jemma hummed happily and leaned her head back as she brought her hand to cover his.

It felt so good to be connected to him like this. Like everything they had together and between them was being shared. She had never been like this with someone before - so wrapped up, so consistently on the same page about what they wanted.

“You feel so good. So good inside me,” she nearly moaned as she rocked back and forth with him.

He moved his hips more firmly, and the plunge against her soft center felt sumptuous. She breathed in heavily, exhaling her passions slowly.

Their movements were long, slow, and deep, and Jemma began to roll her hips in a pattern that ignited him.

His hand slid down her body and to her thigh, resting there as he held her leg over his, diving deeper into her.

She let out an elongated noise from her chest and pressed her palm to the bed, pushing back against him on the next motion. Their pace started to quicken and he breathed heavy against the back of her neck.

“Mmmmm, keep going,” her breath hitched.

Fitz palmed her hip as he drove in to her more firmly and she moaned low & quick as he hit her center again.

“Yes, right there.”

Jemma fell forward and Fitz leaned over her as he continued, pressing himself up to his palm as he picked up pace, holding her hip firmly with the other hand. She tightened against him as he dove deep in to her and Fitz groaned loudly at the sensation.

“God, keep doing that.”

She jutted her hips back as she pulled her knee more forward, clenching herself around him, and he moved deep inside of her as she began to moan more earnestly.

Fitz held tight as he continued, sliding in and out of her center, and Jemma felt the heat rising inside of her as she grasped the side of the bed, her hips moving in double time against him.

“Oh Fitz, yes, yes!”

They continued on, silent but for their ineloquent verbalizations of passion.

Her orgasm was quick and shallow when it peaked and Fitz continued, his face pressed against her cheek, and breath expelling in her ear as he finished. He relaxed against her again immediately, still pressed tightly together, and he nuzzled his nose where her neck met her shoulder.

Jemma cooed back at him and Fitz braced as he slipped from her, kissing across the back of her neck.

“God that's good,” he exhaled.

“Mmmm...”

He laughed softly, kissing gently behind her ear again and leaned over to look at her.

Jemma's eyes were still closed and she looked peaceful and relaxed.

Beautiful was not a strong enough word to describe her.

Fitz felt his chest clench and he bit his lip as he nosed her cheek, kissing the side of her face as she rumbled another contentment.

He smiled as he pecked his lips across her chin and to her neck again, beginning to kiss down her arm.

“You awake Jem?”

“Mmmhmm”

Her eyes were still closed and he reached up to her temple with his mouth, resting on his elbow as he kissed her face.

“Do you want to get up?”

“Huhuh”

“Do you still want to go to the arboretum?”

“Mmmhmm”

“Do you want breakfast?”

She nodded, eyes still closed, and the start of her smirk told him she was egging him on.

“Do you want to have a lie in?”

He kissed the top of her ear.

She nodded, trying to contain her smile and he paused, laying kisses around the shell of her ear.

When he spoke again his voice was soft and thick.

“Do you want me to go down on you?”

Her eyes opened and she turned her head to face him. She smiled, still non-verbal, and nodded eagerly.

“There we go.”

He leaned forward to peck her on the lips and his grin matched hers as he kissed her again.

Fitz started to roll his tongue in to her mouth as he pushed himself up, and she took him in, turning to her back. He hovered over top of her, tongues waving into each other, and as he pulled away she whined slightly.

Jemma watched as he began to kiss down her front, and he moved shortly to his knees at the bottom of the bed as he pushed hers up, legs pressed together. Running his hands up her thighs, he looked her up and down, shaking his head as he breathed out.

“I don't know if I'm ever gonna get used to this.”

Her eyes sparkled as she smiled again and he leaned down to kiss her knee cap, then encouraged her thighs apart, kissing down the inside of her softest skin. As he leaned forward he looked up at her again.

“Slow?”

She nodded, eyes closing as his mouth brushed across her, and her sigh of pleasure was immediate. Fitz held her legs down gently as he began to lick and she felt saliva gather in her mouth as his tongue moved.

To his word, he lapped across her slowly, more focused on taking her in than pushing her to climax, and it was exquisite. His tongue circled up her inner folds and across her clit, causing her to tense her legs, and he brought his hand across her, rubbing caringly as he kissed up her mons.

Jemma breathed out noisily - hips swaying as she leaned in to his touch - and Fitz brought his tongue out as he dragged his mouth down the juncture of her thigh.

His fingers gathered her wetness as they traveled to her entrance, and he kissed at her hip as he stroked her there, putting pressure against her clit with his thumb.

Her voice was high pitched as she responded to him and he continued his kiss across her outer lips as he ran his fingers through her folds. Jemma arched her hips towards his mouth, the desire in her beginning to ache and he poised the tops of his fingers at her entrance as his lips landed on her peak.

He kissed it gently first, letting the tip of his tongue graze across it and he felt her shiver with a short moan. He repeated his gesture again, the wetness of his mouth barely touching her, and Jemma panted with each motion.

Fitz held in a smile as he teased her, and slowly he pointed two fingers in to her, sliding inside as his tongue echoed the movement across her clit.

Jemma felt tears in the corner of her eyes as she arched her back, taking in the ecstasy of his motions, and her breathing was broken and nearly pained as he started to move in and out.

His fingers were gentle and supple inside of her as his tongue swirled and Fitz moaned lightly against her as he continued, his pace languid. The pads of his fingers found their way to the back of her walls, and Jemma tightened around him as she pressed her lips together in nearly overwhelming sensation.

His tongue moved in circles and figure eights around her bud and Fitz breathed heavy as her pleasure began to climb. The build was slow and fantastic as he continued and Jemma cried out quietly with each breath, growing moans of pleasure releasing.

He took notice as her pants began coming closer together and his fingers inside her started to match the pace of her breath. As he sucked her into his mouth he felt the entirety of her clench and she cried out, hands grabbing at the pillow and the bedspread.

Her noises were constant now and he could tell she was close, her stomach tightening at her pending release as he fingered her firmly. He grabbed her hip with his other hand and buried his face against her sex, as he flicked his tongue fast against her peak.

Jemma’s hand came to the back of his head and her fingers scrunched in his hair as she felt her climax aching at her center. As it shuddered through her she let her tears release, pooling in her eyes as she whined out her orgasm, each point of her body convulsing.

He coaxed her through it, kissing up her stomach as his hand pressed against her center, and Fitz breathed hard as he caught his breath.

The back of Jemma’s hand came to her mouth, and as her lips quivered against her skin, she reached down, encouraging him on top of her. She pulled him against her, settling his thigh between hers and she sighed out at the comfort of the pressure between her legs. She panted wordless exaltations in to his ear as she held his head against her shoulder and a fresh wave of tears caught in her throat.

“Are you okay?”

His tone was concerned and confused and she nearly laughed as she cried, trying to respond with a nod as she pressed her face in his hair.

“Yes. Yes. I’m - yes, that was...I - you...”

She kissed against his wiry locks again and took in a deep breath, licking her lips as her mouth protested the dryness of her exertion.

Fitz kissed her shoulder and pushed himself up further, releasing slightly from her grasp, and his face landed next to hers on the pillow, the majority of his body still draped across her.

Jemma made eye contact with him and he brought his hand to her face. It was a mix of wonder and arousal, and though she’d said she was okay, the mist in her eyes concerned him.

“Are you sure? Was it...too - did you - did I - was it too much?”

She shook her head, holding his hand on her cheek with her own, and kissing his palm.

“It was amazing.”

He felt a tinge of relief and breathed in, relaxing as he pulled her towards him for a kiss.

“Mmmm...”

They shared soft busses as his palm cupped her jaw and Fitz pressed his lips around her mouth as she held him tight to her with a hand on his back.

She sighed out again and they both breathed heavy as their gentle pecks slowed, Fitz resting his head on her shoulder again, mouthing against her neck affectionately.

The room was silent as Jemma closed her eyes, catching her breath finally, and she took comfort in the feel of him against her.

Every day it seemed like a new layer of closeness was revealing itself between them and she couldn’t remember ever feeling this content in her entire life. She wanted to share it with him but she didn’t know what to say.

Fitz broke the quiet as he nuzzled against her neck.

“I can’t get enough of you.”

She smiled, running her hand up and down his back.

“I feel the same way.”

He grinned and kissed her jaw, then her cheek, and breathed out as he snuggled in to her.

“Five more minutes and then maybe we can make pancakes?” 

~

“You’re almost out of milk,” Jemma told him as he came out of the shower, freshly dressed in a t-shirt and jeans.

“Let’s get some while we’re out.”

“I was planning to go grocery shopping for the week tomorrow, I can get you some then.”

“Oh, yeah, sure - I can, um - we could...yeah, that’s fine.”

It was clear she was referring to groceries for her own home and his thoughts stuck in his head, wondering how to bring it up with her. The last three days had been the best of his life and he hated the idea of her leaving. But he didn’t know what other option they had.

Jemma smiled as she turned from where she’d been mixing batter and moved towards him.

“You get started on these while I wash up okay?”

His stomach clenched again at her smile and he wondered if the feeling he got when she beamed at him like that would ever go away.

___

 

“This was a great idea,” Jemma complimented him as they traveled through the cultivated landscapes.

“I’m glad you’re having a good time.”

She squeezed the arm that her hand was tucked in the crook of and he grinned.

“I missed your smile,” she told him quietly, sparring a moment to enjoy his face before turning away.

He wasn’t sure how to reply.

She didn’t continue and the mood was happy as they walked, admiring the flora and fauna. As predicted the sun was out and the spring day was quite suited to their chosen activity.

Jemma stopped continuously to admire different botanical species and Fitz took pleasure in the way she took his hand or grasped his arm each time they continued. When they had done a full circle around the small lake she suggested that he sit while she used the restroom.

“I think there’s a snack cart on the way back too. I’ll get us something and then maybe we can go look at the statue garden before we have lunch?”

“Whatever you like,” he breezed, relaxing with his arms stretched against the back of the bench.

“Okay - but then after lunch we should think of an activity of your choosing.”

He raised an eyebrow and she tilted her head with reproach.

“Something we can do in public.”

Both eyebrows ticked up then and she laughed, walking away.

Jemma took a few steps up the path before turning back and she surprised them both as she sprung forward to give him a kiss.

“What was that for?”

“Because I can.”

She kissed him again before quite nearly bouncing away.

Fitz watched her go again and the smile on his face could not have been pried off with a crowbar.

She was his.

Jemma Simmons.

The scientist he knew to be easily the smartest person he had ever met. The girl that had become his best friend so many years ago. The woman who made him want to never leave his bed again.

She wanted him.

She was just as giddy about her affections as he was.

He couldn’t cease to wonder how he’d ever sparked her interest let alone held it.

~

As Jemma perused the menu at the snack cart she felt a tap on her shoulder.

“Hope you don’t mind but I had to stop and tell you how sweet you and your beau are.”

“Oh! Oh thank you.”

Jemma’s smile took up half her face and the older woman smiled back.

“I’ve been with my husband for nearly forty years and he and I were talking about how much you remind us of when we first fell in love.”

The comment made her stomach tighten.

“How long have you been together?”

“Oh. Well, it’s, it's, fairly new.”

“Is it?”

“Um, well, sort of, we’ve...”

Her eyes wandered toward where Fitz was sitting and she looked at him as she answered.

“We’ve known each other since we were sixteen.”

She smiled as she thought of him then; smart, pasty, handsome, awkward.

“Well isn’t that sweet. It's easy to see how in love you two are.”

Jemma’s eyes stayed on him as she took in the words and as she turned back she smiled confoundedly.

She had never been in love before.

Fitz was her best friend, her partner, her confidant, and now her lover. He was the person she wanted to tell right away whenever something good or bad or funny happened. The person she wanted to spend every moment of every day with.

It all added up.

She was in a bit of a daze as she purchased their treats and made her way back to him. She handed him the pretzel and he put his hand out for a water as well, thanking her.

He bit in to the salted bread and she sat back, taking a sip of her own water - still in her head - and looked out at the view.

“Do you ever think about when we met?”

“Huh?”

He set the pretzel down on the napkins she had procured and opened his bottle for a drink.

“At the academy. Do you ever think about it?”

He considered her question genuinely.

“Sometimes. Mostly about how much has changed. I was so nervous to talk to you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Spent months trying to think of something clever enough to say.”

“Months?”

“Well I knew we’d get on but I wasn’t sure if...I knew it had to be good so that I could get you talkin.”

“So you went with dielectric polarization?”

“It worked didn't it?”

She smiled as she opened her frozen fruit bar and took a bite.

“Do you remember our second conversation?”

She paused, trying to recall, and he filled in the blank.

“Well, after I let you talk my ear off about the relative permittivity of potential catalyzing materials-”

“- you loved it.”

He stopped at her phrase and his eyes seared in to her.

“I suppose I did.”

She wanted to reply. To tell him what the woman at the cart had said. But she was lost for words again.

“So, after you delighted me with your knowledge of conductive properties,” he continued, “the next day you told me you had spent all evening researching the the topic further.”

She started to remember more clearly.

“I wanted our experiment to go well.”

“Well I remember I was somehow even more impressed with you that second day.”

Her cheeks dimpled and he leaned forward for a kiss. His mouth was savory and she wished he’d keep it on hers longer as he pulled away.

Fitz's eyes were spectacularly blue and decidedly come hither when they came in to focus and he licked his lips.

“Tastes like raspberry.”

A heat that had nothing to do with the sun settled on her skin and she pushed at him playfully.

“Eat your pretzel _Leo_.”

“Ouch,” he mocked.

She sat back, crossing her legs, and brought the bar back to her mouth, the cold a welcome sensation against the warmth in her cheeks.

Fitz sat back as well, slipping his arm around her shoulders, and he smirked.

The day was bright and the breeze off the water was welcoming, and even if she wanted to, Jemma could not have helped herself as she lay her head on his shoulder.

She thought again about the woman’s observations and she settled against Fitz’s side as they enjoyed their snacks.

What was love really? A feeling of admiration, affection, closeness.

She certainly felt all those things for Fitz and more - and if their words the night before were any indication she thought he felt the same.

But was it too soon to call it something so serious?

“So, maybe we should get lunch somewhere nearby when we’re done,” Fitz offered, “and then we can go to Brit’s after and have a pint - do some lawn bowling?”

“Oh?”

“Yeah - seems fun. Maybe after we can pick something up for dinner and go back ho-to my place?”

Jemma knew what he had started to say and she felt a flutter in her stomach. The truth was it did feel like home now and although it all felt quite rushed it also felt right.

“Yeah, let’s get takeaway from the Vietnamese place on the way home.”

___ 

As they headed back to the apartment with their delivery bag of banh mi, they both smiled giddily as they walked, Fitz swinging their hands as the golden hour shone colorfully across the sky.

“Do you want to watch a movie or something when we get home?” he asked.

The words were effortless now - or at least not overthought. After spending the day together he felt the comfort of their coupling in everything they did.

The way she smiled at him with nearly every word he said. The ease he felt when he held her hand or touched her back. After weeks of avoiding her it felt like such a gift to not only reclaim but evolve their closeness.

“Yes - and maybe cuddle?”

Her cheeks were flushed with delight & drink.

“Obviously. Don’t think you’re getting past first base though - this is only our third date.”

“I do suppose we might have skipped past some milestones...”

Her voice sounded a bit regretful and he tugged her hand to get her attention.

“Hey - I was only kidding. You can get as fresh with me as you like.”

She smiled but her eyes were still a bit serious.

“I just don’t want to...to feel like we missed anything because some of our...relationship...has been a bit out of order.”

“Who needs order?”

She looked at him sternly.

Fitz knew quite well that there was little in the world she enjoyed more than order.

“Okay. Fair enough,” he chuckled, “So why don’t you think about what we might have skipped past and let me know and we’ll make sure we do that this weekend.”

She smiled at him with one of his favorite grins - experimental delight - and they took the next couple blocks to his place in stride.

~ 

“So cuddling and watching a movie is definitely on the checklist?”

Fitz plopped onto the couch as he moved from the kitchen with his beer and she followed.

Jemma stopped to look at him, his position sparking heated memories, and she drank down the rest of her own lager, blushing with a hidden smile

He flicked on the tv, scrolling through the channels, and she found her own seat next to him, curling into his side. His arm slid down around her, resting on her hip.

Her smile crept across her face as she thought about him and how much had changed in the past few days. Her skin heated at the reminder of how she had pressed against him on this very couch with nearly reckless abandon, and how primal it had all been.

She couldn't help herself as her gaze flitted toward him and Fitz was concentrated on the screen.

His eyes were focused as he read through the channel guide and she watched him for a moment, taking in the slope of his nose and the wrinkle of his collar.

“See something you like?” he asked.

She laughed to herself as she nodded.

“Mmhmm...”

Fitz noticed her tone immediately and his head turned.

He recognized the not so coy grin on her face and shook his head slowly as his own smirk formed and her smile grew.

“What did you have in mind then?”

“I was thinking about the other night, after - the first time - and how much I wanted you when I came back out and you were sitting here...”

He set the remote down on the side table and leaned back.

“Like this?”

His arm was stretched across the back of the couch again and his legs were parted naturally.

She nodded and Fitz raised his eyebrows.

“What else were you thinking about?”

She scooted closer to him and placed a palm on his chest.

“About earlier - one of things we sort of skipped past...”

Her hands came up to his collar as she kissed him, lips flirtatious.

“Simmons are you trying to say you want to snog me?”

She laughed aloud and nodded, and Fitz kissed her quickly.

“Making out while we pretend to watch a movie - sounds right.”

With that he leaned forward and they kissed slowly, lips focused and tender.

Jemma kissed him back intently, her hands settled on his chest, and he parted his mouth against hers, welcoming a deeper kiss.

Fitz pulled her close as their tongues met, his arms wrapping around her back, and it wasn't long until she shifted up, seeking a better angle.

Jemma moved to his lap, straddling him and he welcomed her, one hand supporting her lower back and the other settled on her neck into her hair.

He deepened the kiss then, his mouth searching, and she felt the tingles of his tongue against hers lick through her nerves.

Jemma's hands rested on his shoulders, pressing against him, unconsciously holding herself still. She hesitated to move, not wanting to take it somewhere else too fast, and she laughed at the irony.

Fitz held her close as his lips pulled back.

“What's that?”

She kissed him back as she explained.

“I was just thinking that I shouldn't be too forward.”

“Oh?”

“Yep, wouldn't want to rush anything.”

In keeping with their pretense, Fitz continued.

“No rushing. Got it.”

He kissed her back slowly again, his hand holding her mouth gently to his, and Jemma sighed as his tongue slipped against hers again.

It felt absolutely spectacular the way their mouths fit together, all at once familiar and discovering.

Fitz rested serenely on the couch, settled in the perfection of the moment, his groin protesting happily against hers.

For all the humour he appreciated the idea that they could take some time to enjoy this - making out like it was their first time doing so together.

His hand slipped around her neck, resting under her chin as he kissed her warmly, and Jemma's snaked up, pressed against the sides of his neck, fingers grazing his weekend stubble.

“Do you think it would have been like this?” she asked, “all those years ago - if we'd had the inkling sooner?”

Fitz pulled back, kisses traveling down her throat.

“I would have had no idea how to even ask you out.”

“Maybe I should have asked you out then.”

“Yeah?”

He held the back of her head as he began to suck at the notch of her collarbone.

Jemma's eyes fluttered closed and she sighed.

“Mmhmmm...”

“Do you think we would have ended up back in your dorm room doing this?”

“Eventually...”

His mouth continued back up one side of her neck, tongue trailing to her ear, and her pelvis responded. The quick swirl of Jemma's hips sent a pulse through him and Fitz bucked back at her, grunting.

She recaptured his mouth again, both hands holding his face, and Jemma opened it with hers, sending her tongue to take charge.

She circled her hips again as she kissed him fervently, and he groaned again, pressing both his hands against her lower back as he inherently searched for pressure.

Fitz took her in as Jemma's tongue and groin undulated against him, and somewhere in the back of his mind he knew his 16 year old self would have come apart at the sheer notion of this.

He would have taken her up on any offer she'd made him then. A date. A kiss. A hand to hold. The thought that they were here now was beyond anything he could have imagined.

He sat up then, kissing her back with more vigor, and moved his hands to her hips, pressing and pulling them against his burgeoning hardness.

Jemma responded in kind, beginning to rock as their tongues positively thrashed together, and she felt the heat ratchet between them.

Words fell away from her as she fell into the trance of their movements and her senses focused on the taste of his tongue, the smell of his skin, the feel of his stubble, the sound of his breath, and the sparks fissioning behind her eyelids.

He began to lean forward, shifting them as she fell onto her back and when he pressed himself against her again, she didn't let their mouths disconnect.

Fitz began quick, sturdy thrusts against her and she wished immediately that both of their jeans were off. She knew too well now exactly what kind of pressure she wanted from him and where.

His free hand fondled her over her shirt and she tittered.

“Do you want me to slow down?”

His tone was teasing and sexy.

“Keep going.”

He groped her breast, squeezing it, and his head moved to press his mouth to the cotton of her shirt.

“Is a topless dry hump on this list of yours?” he asked, hand going up her t-shirt.

“Fitz, really? Dry hump?”

He laughed as he moved her top up and his motions slowed as he pressed his mouth to the roundness of her breast.

“Is there a better word?”

“Frottage.”

“Okay Simmons that's one I've never heard.”

There was something decidedly sexy about him calling her Simmons when they were fooling around.

It made her feel like they were always meant for this. That this part of their relationship had always been a bit of an inevitability, they just hadn't seen it coming until it was right in front of them.

She smiled as she moved to help him roll her shirt up and over her arms.

His hand moved down her torso and his kisses followed, light and pointed across her decolletage and abdomen. He got down to her jeans, his fingers aching to unbuckle them when he realized.

“This is a first. Me undressing you.”

“I supposed I've been rather eager to get myself naked up to this point haven't I?”

“No complaints here.”

It was his turn to smile big and Jemma pulled him back to her as he kissed her full and firm.

She kissed him back happily and as he deepened their kisses, an all too familiar thrumming in her abdomen began to make itself known again.

Fitz felt her feet curl against his and he undid her button.

“Budge up,” he encouraged.

She tilted her pelvis as he pulled down her denim and when he got to the bottom of the couch, he looked at her in her bra and underwear and let out a cocky and now familiar smile.

He pulled off his own shirt and came back down on top of her, falling in to her embrace as she kissed him.

Jemma’s mouth was insistent against his and she tried to pull him in between her legs, eager to wrap them around his waist. He stayed hovering over her instead, feeling her up in a befitting fashion

His hand roamed down to her underwear and as he started pawing at her there she squirmed beneath him eagerly, hips waving messily against him.

He laughed against her mouth and she nipped back at him.

“Do you want to take the lead?"

He canted his hips against her before she could answer and Fitz kissed her firm before he sat up on his knees, bringing her with him.

They fell clumsily as he drug her on top of him again, horizontal across the sofa this time, and as she straddled him, he laid back, admiring her.

“Do you think it's third date etiquette for me to ask you to take off your bra?”

She smiled.

“Only if I can take off your trousers.”

“Deal.”

She scooted to unbutton his jeans and then they both finagled to get them down, Jemma reaching behind herself to yank them off his feet.

She moved back up then, settling against his crotch, and looked down at him as she let herself free, tossing her bra on the ground with their growing pile of clothes.

She reached down his to arms, pulling his hands to her chest, and he took heed, palming them equally.

She began rocking on top of him then and he pressed his hips up to meet her.

“So frottage in our underwear is on the list then?”

“Do you want to talk about it or do it?”

He smiled then put his lips tight together, squeezing her boobs as she gyrated against him.

Jemma began to urge more firmly against him, tiny hints of her own arousal sparking. She tipped herself up & down on top of him, and he looked up at her, breasts weighing in his hands as he licked his lips.

In a mild fit of endorphins she reached down to take one hand and bring it to her mouth, nibbling at his palm before she slowly sucked a finger in to her mouth.

Fit was transfixed.

“Can we try something?” he asked, hormones dripping from his voice.

“What’s that?”

“You, up here - on my mouth.”

His words sent a shock straight to her center and she gasped lightly.

“Really?”

He was getting pretty good at reading her body language and he felt her heat against him which told him he was on the right track.

He nodded, beginning to pull at her panties and she assisted him leaning all the way back so she could pull them off. When her legs opened he got a good look at her and Fitz gulped down the moisture in his mouth.

She propped back up on her knees, and he urged her forward, scooting down to lay himself back flat on the couch.

As she began to clear his chest, she looked down and vulnerability struck her. His face was flushed and his eyes were piercing and she wanted to give him her world.

“Are you sure about this?”

“Yes. I was thinking about it last night - then just now. It's extremely sexy.”

“What if you have trouble breathing?”

“I’ll move you.”

“What if you can't move.”

“How about a safe word?”

“I know you’re joking but it's not a bad idea.”

“Oxygen then.”

She giggled silently as she nodded and he kissed her inner thigh with a smile.

“Lean up - and move when you need to,” he encouraged, bringing his hands under her bum.

She rose up onto her knees and looked down at him.

“The safe word is oxygen.”

He smiled as he pulled her crotch forward and nuzzled his mouth against her center.

She hummed a pleased tone as she breathed out, shifting on her knees, and he began to lick.

Immediately she moaned softly and Fitz pulled her into his face, tilting her pelvis so that he could reach his tongue underneath her.

Soon, her hips began to rock against his mouth and she rolled them experimentally as he lapped at her, whining out her pleasure.

His mouth was wet all over her and she pressed her palms against the arms of the sofa, leaning forward in to his face.

“Is this okay?” she asked breathlessly, unable to stop herself from rocking.

“Mmhmm.”

She tittered at the reverberations and it quickly turned to a moan as he slipped his tongue around her entrance. Shortly, Fitz realized the angle was really best for getting his mouth at her clit so he focused there and began to suck methodically.

She cried out and careened forward, holding tight to the couch and he breathed heavy through his nose, not letting up on his pace.

Jemma felt the sharp and pleasurable keening that had struck her during his earlier ministrations and the memory of the morning’s orgasm rushed through her, egging on her arousal.

He kept going and she rocked gently, trying not to disturb the absolutely perfect things he was doing with his mouth. When he began to flick his tongue Jemma let out a long, tight, whine and he knew she was close. Pressure and consistency were the key now and he aimed to please.

He hooked his hands around her legs, holding her lap steady, and laid his forearms over her thighs firmly.

Jemma held tight to the fabric of the sofa arm and her forehead fell between her hands, her eyes squeezing shut as she tried not to move.

“Oh yes, yes, yes.”

Fit didn’t let up, his face flushed under their warmth, and finally, in an echoing sensation of release, she called out a wordless ascent.

He released her nub as he kissed her wetness, and her hips dropped backward as she relaxed, settling against his chest.

She stayed still for a moment, panting against the couch, and he looked up to find her breasts hanging deliciously overtop of him.

He reached up to suck one in to his mouth and she called out.

“Oh god!”

An aftershock ran through her at the sensation and she looked down at him and wondered how in the hell he was continuing to bring her such peaks of desire over and over again.

He met her eyes his as he suckled and she sighed again. Jemma reached down, bracing against his shoulders and her head lolled back as her pleasures sifted through her relaxing form.

Fitz continued his mouth around her pert peak and kissed up her chest, setting his hands on her thighs.

She breathed in deep, sighing out contentedly again and his kisses feathered her skin.

He brushed his lips across her sternum, sweeping his affections across her torso and Jemma stayed there for a few satisfied moments, resting in his adulation.

As his lips slowed she began to shift, repositioning herself back down his body, and as she landed in his lap she leaned down to kiss him appreciatively.

One of his hands went to the back of her head and he felt her there, his tongue slipping into her mouth to soak up her contentment.

Jemma relaxed against his chest, falling to rest her torso against his, and his other hand moved naturally around her curves, petting her lower back and cupping against her naked bum.

His hands were easy and gently affectionate as they held her and eventually Jemma pulled back for air.

“You're too good to me,” she commented, face still close to his.

“No such thing.”

He kissed her again, short and soft, and Jemma smiled as she relaxed her body and nested her head against his shoulder.

She voiced her serenity again and Fitz ran his hands across her back in abstract patterns.

“So you enjoyed yourself then?”

“Mmhmm. Very much. You're overwhelmingly good at that.”

He smiled and rested his cheek against hers.

“A successful experiment?”

“Very. Although... I had an idea. Next time I'd like to use our mouths on each other. At the same time. Together.”

Fitz clocked a sharp heat in his legs and grinned.

“Insatiable.”

Jemma laughed.

Every moment with him felt like she was flying.

They were happy in their resting quiet for a few moments and as she relaxed Jemma felt again the confused pull to say something. Tell him how clear it was becoming that she was enamored with him.

“Today has been perfect. Everything. Pancakes, the gardens, the pub, dinner. Being together. All of this. It's...I'm so happy. Really.”

He felt emotions waft like sweet steaming air and he searched for words to reciprocate.

“Jemma I - it's been...is magical too cheesy?”

“Yes. Besides, you always say you hate magic.”

“Well you say magic is just science we don't understand yet.”

“Perhaps that's it.”

“What?”

“The science. Of attraction. The undefinable variables. Of us. It's there we just don't completely understand it yet.”

His smile grew and he pulled his head back to look at her.

Her face was both serene and excited and he felt like he could live an entire week on that smile alone.

He looked at her in near awe at the fitness of her mind and with stunning appreciation for everything she brought to his life.

“So that's the best explanation for now?”

She nodded.

“I suppose I don't hate all magic.”


	11. Falling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> FitzSimmons continue to enjoy their weekend.

Sunday dawned for Jemma when her mind awoke early in the morning. She rolled in to Fitz naturally, fitting herself against his side, and snuggled into the cotton of his t-shirt.

He didn’t move and she smiled to herself as she nestled in to his space, claiming it for herself as well. They had spent the rest of the evening cuddling on the couch and she was happy to be entangled with him again, soaking in their closeness.

She pressed her hand against his chest, bathing in his warmth, and she felt him shift. The slight change in the sound of his measured breaths, and the twitch of his hand to her backside told her he was somewhere between waking & dreaming.

She latched a leg over his, enveloping further in to his limbs, and his hand gripped her bum. She kissed the side of his ribs softly through his shirt and the air shifted as he cupped through the fabric of her shorts.

Jemma’s hand skated down his torso, resting at the skin above the band of his boxers, and she continued to press her mouth against his side, wishing his shirt was off. Her fingers followed her train of thought, skimming under the fabric, and swiping across his stomach, and her lips moved across his chest, settling over his heart.

Fitz began to stretch through his own awakening and he registered her chilled hands across his skin. He took in a sharp breath and she responded with a press of her body against his side before he reached down immediately, stopping her hand.

“Cold?”

He nodded, not quite yet awake, and she kissed his chest.

“I’ll have to use my mouth then.”

As Jemma shifted down his body, he released her fingers and his eyes blinked open. He slowly registered the view of her kissing toward his stomach as she pushed his shirt up, and his arms followed before he even asked them to.

He grabbed the hem and pulled it up, leaning forward just enough to pull it over his head and his heartbeat quickened as he watched her continue, his sleepy eyes coming into focus as she wiggled down his body, closed mouth kisses peppered across his abdomen.

Fitz breathed in and out slowly, releasing a pleased noise, and she hummed back against his stomach, as her palm swept against the band of his shorts. She plucked the elastic absentmindedly as he rested his hands on his own chest, eyes falling half shut as he took in the relaxed pleasure of her touch.

Jemma ran her foot over his leg as she continued, kissing her way down his happy trail, and she noticed the jolt in his underwear as her finger stroked his hip. She let out the tip of her tongue just above his pubic bone as she started to pull at his boxers further and he sucked in air again.

She smiled against his taut muscles and grazed her wet lips against his skin again and Fitz licked his lips, eyes still shut as he focused on the sensations of his lower half.

She kissed back up toward his belly button, palming at his torso, and when she rested her mouth against his lower ribs, it tickled slightly. His belly clenched and she let out a smiling noise before she licked quickly up toward his sternum.

Fitz's eyes flicked open and the sight of her made her ministrations even more enjoyable. She was naked but for a pair of his boxers and as she moved her mouth across his chest, his hand glided over her back, palm spreading across her alabaster skin.

She pressed herself against the length of his body as she sighed pleasantly at his touch, and her kisses across his pectorals were sweet and affectionate. As she brushed her closed lips across his nipple she hesitated for a moment before letting out her tongue to lick it softly, lips closing back over it with a wet kiss.

His shoulders twitched and she tittered, opening her mouth and swiping her tongue across it again. Fitz finally released a more pleasured sound, and she grasped at his hip as she swirled her tongue once more.

His noises became louder and she hummed happily as she continued. Her hand traveled down to his shorts again, pulling at the band more aggressively now, and she kissed his chest before moving, shifting to her side as she began to pull them off.

Fitz obliged, jutting up his rear, and reaching to push them down his legs, and as his cock sprung free she reached for it, squeezing her hand around the shaft.

She continued to kiss his torso as she moved slowly, and he rested again, his hand still stroking her back.

“How does that feel?” Jemma murmured.

“Good, your hand is warmer now.”

They both smiled and she looked up at him finally, eyes playful and mouth sweet. She gazed at him for a moment and then leaned up for a brief kiss, before trailing her lips down his neck.

Jemma continued to his collarbone and chest, and when she reached his other nipple she sucked it quickly, flicking it with her tongue before moving on. Her hand slowed as she continued back towards his stomach and ribs, and her mouth jumped across varied parts of his skin. 

As she reached downward she released him, sitting up to shift her body, and as her breasts came in to view, he reached up immediately, palms supple around them.

“Come here,” he groaned, pulling her nipple down to meet his mouth.

He suckled it immediately and she shuddered with a tiny cry.

Fitz sat up then and pulled her forward as he ran his face and hands across her breasts, his heart thudding his arousal through his chest.

She pushed back, urging him against the headboard, and his hands traveled down under her shorts as he pulled her closer to him, mouth kissing at her peak again.

She followed, leaning in so that he could push them down, and she lifted one leg then the other, as he pulled them off, smiling serenely as she rested her hands on his shoulders and moved to her knees on either side of him. She grinned down at Fitz as he watched her maneuver, and when he looked up at her they both beamed.

“Good morning.”

He smiled still as he reached up to bring her lips down to his, and as Jemma went forward for the kiss her lap rested in his and they both moaned at the contact.

Fitz grabbed her boob again, fondling it with lazy purpose, and she waved her hips and stomach against his experimentally.

“Good morning indeed,” he breathed against her mouth.

They both took notice of their morning breath and Jemma laughed as she pulled away slightly.

“Sorry,” he blushed.

The shake of her head told him not to worry as she grabbed the water on the bedside and swished some in her mouth as she handed him the glass. He did the same and then she kissed him firmly as she rocked against him once more.

He pulled at her by the back of her hips as he pulsed and Jemma leaned up on her knees, angling towards him. They both looked down as they positioned themselves and she eased on to him, falling back as she moaned happily.

“Oh, Jemma,” he breathed as his head slacked, palms resting at her sides.

She steadied herself against his chest with her hands as she started to move, rocking her hips in a waving pattern at first, and she tested the feel of him inside her at different points of contact. 

Fitz was wholly focused on her encasing him, and his mouth lolled open as she moved, basking in the feel of her sliding up and down. She moaned out softly as she closed her own eyes, picking up pace, and he felt himself bottom out as she dropped heavy on to him.

He drug his feet up the bed, knees bending as he held her hips for leverage, and he almost grimaced as he plunged in to her, beginning to thrust back as he forced himself to attention.

Jemma took heed as well, tightening around him as she pressed forward, and his face fell to mouth at her nipples again as they bucked against each other. He groaned as she clenched & released his length, and Fitz picked up pace, face tightening as he licked greedily around her nipple, his moans caught in his throat as the pressure ached inside him.

“Jemma,” he breathed.

She hummed back at him, holding his head against her as she rode him, and her heavenly sighs rang through his ears.

Fitz held her tight as he dropped his forehead to her chest, eyeing down to their coupling. The glimpse of her wet around his hard on had him biting his lip and his voice was scratchy as he panted.

“Jem, are you close? I’m gonna-”

She shook her head and continued.

“It feels good. Just keep going, don't hold back.”

She pressed forward, and clenched around him again, tightening as she dropped hard and fast.

She was a ways away from an orgasm but the sensation of being on top of him like this was quickly becoming one of her favorite positions.

He rutted in to her and she cried out, moans stuttering from her mouth as she thrust him against her g spot. She contracted against him again and Fitz clutched at her back, whimpering against her skin.

“Oh god!” 

Fitz called out as he grunted in to her, and with a burst of agonizing need, he careened forward, landing Jemma on her back and ramming into her with a shortened set of thrusts as he came inside her.

She gasped, the power of his release and the surprise of his position change egging her on, and he shuttered inside of her before pulling out and swiftly plunging his fingers in to her.

“Oh yes, yes, Fitz, yes!”

She clenched around his hand, head pressed back against the bed as she etched toward her release.

Fitz looked down at her, head still swirling from his own climax, and he felt like every inch of his skin with fizzing with arousal. She was naked and writhing underneath him and he fell forward again, finding her nipple and catching it between his teeth.

A high pitch traveled out of her and he fingered her arduously, becoming singularly focused towards her pleasure. He took the utmost satisfaction in knowing how to get her off and he was able to flick his fingers pointedly inside of her just the way he knew she wanted.

“Harder,” Jemma whined and as he obeyed she gasped, noises climbing from her mouth as she tightened then released.

Fitz felt her come against his hand and slowed his fingers as she clamped around them, coaxing out her orgasm.

“God, Jemma,” he groaned as she pulsed around his digits.

He huffed as he fell forward, his own legs spasming as he stretched them out, and she held his hand to rest against her still as she breathed out heavily.

“You’re stunning,” he croaked, “Will you let me get you started next time...so you can finish with me inside you?”

She looked near asleep as she let her legs splay open, brushing his hand over her clit.

“Yes. Keep touching me here.”

“Now?”

“If you like?”

“God yes.”

He rested at her side, tongue at her breast again as he started to circle her clit with his two fingers, still warm and wet from her release.

She was loose and thrumming with continued desire and she rested her hands above her head as her body moved under his touch.

“God you're sexy,” he told her, face resting on her breast as he played with her.

“You are too,” she mumbled, unfocused, “Your hands. Your hips. I want you in my mouth again.”

Her words went straight to said member and he swept his fingers down to her entrance again.

“What else do you want?” he panted.

Her arousal was spinning through her and her words were unfiltered.

“I want you to keep touching me. I want you to get hard, and when I'm close I want you on top of me.”

Every syllable of her breathy desires made him grow and he cursed against her skin.

She was absolutely the sexiest woman that had ever lived, no question about it.

He couldn't believe how quickly and continuously aroused she was with him and he had no bloody idea what he had done to deserve it.

Fitz breathed through another jerk of his cock and found himself looking forward to what was next. He stayed at her breasts still, lapping around the peak, and even in his excitement to be inside her once more, his enjoyment of their current position could not be undersold.

Fitz thought fleetingly that they should spend every Sunday morning like this, and he realized that was not a far fetched plan. If their current state was any indication he thought she'd very well go along with it.

The idea of finding every possible way to make her come each weekend struck his arousal and he felt a small release of his own fluid. He focused back on her, eager to feel her around his cock, and flitted his fingers more actively over her nub.

She was still wet as he began to thrum his fingers more firmly and she moaned.

“Yes, fast, keep going.”

He leaned up then, eyes on her as he stroked a fevered pace, and his unused hand wrapped around himself, stroking in preparation.

The angle was a bit uncomfortable and Fitz got up to his knees again, trying not lose contact as he settled between her legs, his fingers swiping to her entrance again and back. His other came back to his hard on, fondling it haphazardly as he watched her.

He loved her on top of him but this was something special, to have her splayed out on his bed, every centimeter of her body radiating sex. He moved his hand to her thigh, picking it up, and felt the urge to wrap them both around his waist and plunge in to her.

Like a sweet song she cried her pleasures out to him, chest pushing up as her back arched, and he knew there would never be anything in his life as good as this.

“Jemma I want you, I want to feel you.”

“Keep going. Keep touching me.”

He settled on his knees, thighs folded, and brought her leg around his hip, holding it there as he administered the friction she desired, eyes flitting across both their bodies as the sight overwhelmed him.

“Oh Fitz, oh god, okay, yes, now.”

She didn't need to ask twice and he picked up both her hips, tilting her pelvis up as he crooked in to her sharply.

“Keep touching me!” 

One hand wrapped under her lower back for purchase and he barely moved his hips as he went back to her clit. He wished for a second that he could use his mouth on her and he watched intently as he tried to keep his mind on what she needed.

As Jemma started to tighten around him he thrust back at her and she cried out.

“Oh god yes please move.”

He went to task, desperately concentrating on his fingers and his thighs and his hand holding her up and his eyes flitted to her heaving breast which didn't help matters.

“Yes, yes, keep going.”

He grit his teeth as he clenched all of his efforts toward her and his thoughts started to fall away as he continued.

When Jemma began to hump back at him quickly he knew she was getting close and they were both silent and focused, but for scattered sounds of pleasure. She tightened around him again and Fitz felt the start of his own orgasm building once more as he clenched his thighs, firmly plunging in to her again and again.

“Oh, Fitz, Fitz, yes, yes!”

Jemma stilled suddenly and cried out as she came and he fell forward, grabbing one of her hands as his mouth collided with hers.

“Oh Jemma, Jemma, I'm coming,” he mumbled against her face.

He finished in the trail of her climax and aftershocks rang out between both of them as they jutted against each other with final release.

Jemma's other hand went to his back as he stilled.

“Don't go anywhere.”

She clamped around him again and he groaned.

“I don't think I can keep going.”

She laughed and released, breathing out as she pressed the side of her face to his.

“Just stay here with me for a moment.”

Jemma rested in the fullness of him and she didn't want to let him go. She closed her eyes and took in the feel of him. His softening cock, his hip bones, his stomach. His palm against hers, the long flat muscles of his back under her fingertips.

He was everything.

She kissed the side of his face and let go, allowing him to move.

“Don't go too far.”

“Come here.”

Fitz moved to his side, and she followed, both of them resting easily in each others arms.

He pushed her hair out of the way as he kissed her shoulder softly and his hand settled on her ribs as he rested his mouth on her neck, sweeping his lips across it.

Fitz was overcome with a sharp desire to spend every day like this for the rest of his life.

She held him tight, one hand around his neck, and Jemma felt like the whole world was resting in her arms.

How could she even begin to explain that to him?

“Jemma,” he began, not knowing where his sentence was going.

“Jemma, how are you so...”

“So what?”

“You're - we - not that I'm complaining - but I think I've lost track of the number of times we've had sex now.”

That fact delighted her.

“Well it's quite obvious that I'm very aroused by you,” she began, hand stroking across his back.

“You're attractive and attentive and the more we have sex the... it seems the more often we’re together, I’ve - well, like, just now - I...I don’t seem to need...”

“A warm up?”

“Yes. I think with other people - or at least, for me, in the past...foreplay is always about sort of getting things started. Biologically that’s fairly typical as I understand it for women to have a longer runway to excitement and - well, you’ve read Masters & Johnson.”

She leaned up on one elbow, the tone of her voice changing to the academic clip he was quite familiar with, and her other hand continued patterns across his back.

“It's also been shown that for many woman, we can stay in a state of continued arousal through continued stimulation - and you're very, very stimulating.”

Her voice deepened as she looked down at him and he held in a grin. 

“So, my, well, my refractory period, so to speak, is very quick - almost immediate sometimes - I think especially with you because it's not just sex.”

Before he had a chance to inquire to that point she added on.

“I also have different kinds of orgasms from vaginal and clitoral stimulation.”

“You do?”

“Yes. So it's...it's really, well - sometimes - like right now - I just had one then the other."

He couldn’t help but smile at the acknowledgement that he’d just given her two orgasms back to back.

“So you know - well, you seem to be very familiar with the g spot...”

He smiled.

“Mmhmm”

“So,” she smirked, resting her hand on the small of his back, “That's a very different...sensation... than a clitoral orgasm which is much...sharper.”

Fitz was familiar with the concept but had certainly never heard a woman he was sleeping with talk about it.

“Is one...more...enjoyable? For you?”

“Clitoral orgasms are the most...intense. That's, from what I know, more similar to what a man feels...very - explosive...?”

He smiled at her thought process.

“Sometimes penetrative sex without a goal of climax is nice - like yesterday morning - it's not always just about getting off. That was really good. Just feeling you...I like that. I don't...we don't have to always finish.”

Fitz’s hands were moving now, and she folded back in to him as she continued, resting on his arm outstretched under her head.

“When you...use your hands though...like a minute ago...it's very good. There's a...really - a really strong release. My solar plexus especially. It feels more relaxing.”

“What about when I...go down on you.”

“It's indescribable.”

He pulled back to look her as he smiled.

“It's amazing Fitz,” she continued wistfully.

“It feels so good. You. All the time. Really. All of it. Oral sex is especially...it...well... it's a myth that all women like it of course, although now I wonder if those who don't aren't lucky enough to have a boyfriend like you.”

Fitz didn't know which of the exciting things she had just said to focus on. Part of him wanted to get his mouth on her again.

“So you like everything we've been doing?”

He felt like the answer was pretty clear, but since they were on the topic he wanted to make sure.

She leaned forward to kiss him and nodded her face against his.

“Like isn’t a strong enough word.”

He pulled her into him warmly as he kissed her back.

“What word would you use?”

Love.

She loved making love to him. Being with him. Loving him.

“Fitz...”

He moved kisses down her neck and to her collarbone.

“Do you like this?”

She smiled softly.

“...and this?”

His mouth ran across the top of her breast and she ran her fingers through his hair.

“I more than like it...”

“I more than like you.”

He smiled as he kissed her nipples gently in turn and then rested his head on her chest.

Jemma’s heart was overflowing as she watched him cover her in affections and she wanted so much to tell him how much she felt for him.

“Fitz...” she began again as she ruffled fingers through his hair.

“Jemma will you stay here tonight?”

His interruption surprised her.

“Tonight?”

She'd barely thought about the rest of the day yet.

“Or we could go to your place?”

His voice had a hint of unsurity as he rested his fingers across her stomach.

“You're not sick of me?” she teased.

“Never.”

His words were simple and soft and she felt a smack of affection in her chest that threatened to spring from her eyes.

“I’d like to get home at some point today - go grocery shopping, do laundry, get things ready for the week.”

“Of course.”

He tried not to feel sad or dejected, but the thought of spending a night without her now seemed nearly impossible.

“Fitz...”

“Mhmm?”

“Do you want to come with me to my place later?”

“Do you want me to?”

“Of course.”

“Really?”

“Fitz when have I ever not wanted you around?”

His face grew in to a smile.

“You sure?”

“Yes. Maybe we can have brunch and get some work done today - and we can go back to my place for dinner later?”

“You don’t want some down time?”

The truth was, as much as she had begun to feel so at home here, she did want to go to her apartment. But she didn’t want to be away from him at all.

“I can have down time with you.”

“I don’t know you usually end up jumping my bones.”

“I don’t hear you complaining.”

“Just trying to keep up.”

She shook her head and he moved up to rest his face against her shoulder as he brushed his hand across her breast.

She relaxed in to his touch, starting to mentally plan their day now and his voice was small as he asked.

“Do you think it will always be like this for us?”

She looked down at him again and she was lost in the ocean of his irises.

“I don’t know...it's...it’s a strange feeling isn’t it - never wanting to be without someone...”

Fitz’s chest tightened around his heart and he broke the reverie with a non sequitur.

“We should brush our teeth.”

She laughed.

“What?”

“I want to kiss you. Really kiss you.”

Her mouth curved into a smile and she bussed him on the mouth before rolling to her side and bouncing off the bed.

She was a picture of his fantasies as she hurried to the bathroom and he heard her call out as she shut the door.

“Give me a minute!”

She used the toilet quickly then washed her hands and set about with her toothbrush. He knocked a moment later and she reached out to open the door, inviting him in.

Fitz was back in his boxers again and he smiled as he picked up his toothbrush, watching her, stark naked, grinning at him as she cleaned her own teeth.

Jemma blushed at the look on his face and felt her nipples harden from a combination of cool air and hot blood. As proof to her own point she seemed to be in a near constant state of arousal that morning and her cheeks were warm as she rinsed out her mouth.

Fitz followed shortly and he took both their toothbrushes, setting them in the holder. He looked at them for a moment and then turned to her.

“You should keep that here.”

She felt a pull again to say something, express how much he meant to her - to acknowledge that this was the closest she'd ever been to someone.

She could only nod.

His responding smile was worth it's weight in gold, and he put his hands to her hips as he kissed her. His breath was fresh and cool and as he slipped his tongue in to her mouth Jemma sighed. He kissed her gently for a moment before parting.

He turned her around lightly, his hands around her front, as he began walking them back to the bedroom, and he leaned down to kiss her neck as they followed the short path. When they got to the bed he paused, hands resting as he sucked gently around her neck and shoulder.

“Jemma,” he began quietly, palm heavy on her belly.

“Yes?”

“I want to kiss you.”

“I thought we had already established that as our next activity.”

“I want to kiss you everywhere.”

Warmth spread through her legs.

“I want to make you come again,” he murmured in her ear.

She bit her bottom lip as his words sent a fresh wave of heat to her middle, and she leaned back against his shoulder, smiling.

“Would you like that?”

She knew he knew the answer well enough, but it was becoming abundantly clear how much he liked to hear that she enjoyed what he was doing.

“I would very, very,” she turned around in his arms, “very much like for you to kiss me everywhere.”

She brought her hands around his neck, and pressed her lips to his with delight.

“But I think last night we agreed that next time we’d go down on each other - at the same time.”

“I’m not sure if I’m gonna be...up for that... right now...” he nearly chuckled.

“Fitz, we don’t have to - you don’t have to keep-”

“I want to.”

“I know but, it - if you aren’t-”

“Jemma.”

He linked his wrists on her lower back.

“You said it's not always about orgasming for you. I feel the same way. Right now. Last night. I’m not - well, I’m only human, so I might not always be...it doesn’t have to - I don’t...”

He paused for a moment and tried to collect his words.

“It's like you said - it's not just sex...although don't get me wrong that part’s bloody fantastic.”

She smirked and took a breath as the emotions that had been flooding her started to slosh over the edges.

Jemma kissed him, supple and sweet, and she moved them back on to the bed again. He laid her down gently, and his lips settled against hers as they cuddled back under the covers. As hormones started to rush through her head again, Jemma felt herself becoming overwhelmed.

“Fitz.”

She broke away, her hand on his chest, and she took in a breath as she tried to summon her nerve.

“I need to tell you something.”

He rested, a curious concern panging in his ribs.

“You don't have to respond,” she added.

“Jemma what is it?”

“I've never been in love before.”

The knot in his torso tightened.

“...okay...”

“I've had - well, you know - longer term relationships - and I care about people - not just boyfriends but, well, I - my family, my mum, my dad - you - I certainly... I know I - I love people in that way, but I...”

He was watching her intently, trying to follow what felt like the lead up to something.

“Do you understand?” she asked quietly, expression pained.

“I - yeah, I think so.”

“Have you then?”

“Have I what?”

“Ever been in love?”

Somewhere in the back of his head he knew the answer to that was currently resting nervously in his arms, but it was too far away to articulate.

“I - before, with...no. I mean I've only ever - it's like you said. I love people I care about. My mum. You. My gran.”

“But you've never been in love with someone else before?”

“No.”

They were quiet for a moment and Fitz kissed her for something to do.

She looked at him after, eyes misted.

“Fitz, do you think... is this.... is this what falling in love feels like?” 

His heart swelled in his chest and he let out a smiling breath.

“I do.”

Jemma felt a release as she breathed out her own smiling tears.

“Me too.”

He stroked a hand through her hair as he smiled and Fitz felt like there could be no better feeling in the world than this.

“I am Jemma - I...I don’t - I didn’t...I...I am...falling in love with you.”

She shuttered out happy tears again, kissing him quickly, and she sniffed.

“Me too. I didn’t know what to say and it felt too sudden and I-”

“I know. I know it's all - it's just - this whole thing is crazy and-”

“I don’t think it’s crazy. I think it’s perfect.”

He shook his head in disbelief.

“You’re right. It’s perfect.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the continued reading!


	12. A New Place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fitz & Simmons wrap up their weekend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another longer chapter!

“Have you been to the place on the corner?” Jemma asked as she dropped her purse across her body.

“I think it’s new” he answered, leading towards the door, “ - used to be a Greek restaurant.”

“We should start a checklist of all the best places for breakfast in the city - maybe we could make a habit of it Sunday mornings?”

Fitz walked by her side and nodded, not missing a beat.

“Sunday mornings. Sex and breakfast. Sign me up.”

Jemma smiled as they headed down the stairs.

As promised, he had spent the better part of their morning kissing her all over and his mouth had been slow and sweet and she understood with the utmost clarity why it was called making love. The dedication of every kiss, every sweep of his tongue on her body spoke volumes.

This was absolutely falling in love.

She grabbed his hand and he pulled her close as they headed onto the street.

Fitz's heart and body were full of an affection that seemed nearly impossible. He was completely over the moon and felt like the luckiest man on any planet.

She was falling in love with him and he’d known before she could even get the question out that he felt the same way.

Of course he did. What was there not to love.

She was thoughtful and considerate and had a strange sense of humor that delighted her more than anyone else. He laughed when she laughed - awkward and unfiltered.  She was smart and kind and beautiful and laughed the hardest at his stupidest jokes.  She was sharp and talked a mile a minute when she was excited. He knew that if she didn't have to breathe she'd continue for hours and it made him smile.

He clutched her hand and she squeezed back as they walked the short distance. The restaurant was crowded, and after putting their name in they stood on the corner waiting their turn. 

Jemma closed her eyes and tilted her face toward the sun as they killed time.

“Don't let me forget when we go to the store later - if we get something with iron and vitamin d will you take it?”

She leaned down to look over her sunglasses and he smiled. She knew him better than he knew himself. 

“I'll try.”

She scrunched her nose and went back to her sun worshipping. Fitz watched her with a grin and thought for possibly the dozenth time in the last couple days how happy he felt.

“I missed this.” 

She turned back again and the simple smile on his face was begging to be kissed.

“Me too.”

Jemma leaned over to press a firm buss to his mouth.

“FitzSimmons?”

As she pulled away the owner of the voice came in to view.

“Sally?”

“Milton?!”

She and Fitz wore matching expressions of surprise as they eyed the couple up and down.

“I suppose we're both Milton now. Bradley and I just got married.”

Sally Webber nee Milton stuck her left hand out and Jemma was beyond surprised.

“Married?”

“The two of you?” Fitz added, his expression leaving little question as to how he felt about the pairing.

“I'm sorry we haven't sent out announcements - it was very small and a bit quick.”

Sally seemed to bypass Fitz’s tone as she rested her hand on what Jemma now realized was a growing baby bump.

“It was all a bit of a whirlwind,” she began without prompting, “ -we kept ordering the same salad in the cafeteria-”

“Cobb with tuna,” Milton added.

“No bacon,” they said unison.

Fitz's face was somewhere between confusion and cringe.

“Well that's...” Jemma blinked away her surprise “Congratulations.”

“Same to you two?” Sally gestured.

They looked at each other, eyes wide, and Milton added on before either of them could reply.

“Should have known, I suppose,” he smirked, his jovial tone a smidge too forced.

Jemma didn't know what to say. 

Dozens of friends and coworkers - Sally included - had insinuated a lot of things over the years, but Milton had never been one of them. It had certainly never come up when they had dated.

“Oh I  _ did _ know.”

Sally winked at Fitz and he tried to force down the redness he knew was growing on his face.

“Suppose it worked out for all of us in the end,” Milton closed.

“It certainly did for me,” she cooed, pressing her hand to his chest and kissing him with a nuzzle.

Fitz continued to do a terrible job of looking anything but nauseated as they all waved goodbye and they were both quiet as the other two departed.

“What the...”

“Well that was...”

“How did the two of them-”

“- end up together, I know...I suppose it's not that strange - they work at the same organization, have things in common, clearly seem to have...something...” Jemma pondered.

“I still can't believe you dated him.”

His face was still sour.

“Do you really want to go there?”

Though they'd had very little discussion about it, Jemma was well aware that Sally was the first person he had slept with many years ago.

“It's not the same. Think if you hadn't had the sense to break up with him - you'd be married with a baby on the way.”

He shuddered.

“Fitz it was years ago. I would never have married Milton.”

He knew she was right but something irked him about the idea.

What if she  _ had _ been more interested in Milton - or someone else. What if there had been someone more serious. Someone smart and strong and handsome that had caught her attention and her affection. 

What would their life be like if she had fallen for someone and they were sitting there waiting for breakfast while Jemma shared updates with him about her husband and her children.

What an idiot he’d been to not realize sooner how he felt.

~

Their name was called and he welcomed her change of topic a few minutes later, discussing their week ahead after they ordered.

“I have that department planning meeting tomorrow,” he reminded her, “- supposed to go all day.”

“Are you presenting the mousehole?”

“Just the specs - the prototype isn’t ready yet - but we’re ahead of schedule. Do you want to look at...” 

Fitz stopped himself.

“What?”

She blew the steam from her latte as she awaited his response.

“Oh nothing - it can wait.”

“Is it about the mousehoule?”

“Yeah - I was just - was gonna ask if you wanted to look at it later, but-”

“Of course - we can go to the cafe across the street for tea and look at the specs. I’ll show you my results from those samples too.”

“Are you sure - I...it's the weekend I don’t want to-”

“Of course! When have you ever known me to not want to talk about one of our projects?”

She wrinkled her nose again in the way that he now realized had always turned the corners of his mouth up.

“I know - I just - I...I don’t want to - to - to waste this.”

“Waste what?”

His eyes were big and brows scrunched as he looked to her for understanding and her smiled bloomed directly from her heart.

“Oh...”

Jemma reached her hand across the table and set her hand on is.

“It doesn’t feel like a waste of anything to spend the afternoon with you - no matter what we’re doing.”

He smiled and his eyes flashed.

“So you’re not just in it for the sex.”

She bit her laugh back as she shook her head, fighting the urge to kiss him again.

___

 

Fitz stopped in place as they walked in to the grocery store.

“Oh dammit, I forgot to grab my bag.”

“We can go back,” Jemma offered as she pulled out a trolley.

He thought for a second.

“Nah. I’ll, uh, grab some, toiletries while I’m here and then I can - um - have them at your place...if that’s okay?”

Jemma grinned as she nodded and he took up a spot next to her at the bar of the shopping cart. She crossed her forearm over his as they walked slowly toward the pharmacy area and resisted the urge to lean her head on his shoulder.

With past boyfriends she had naturally been inclined to refrain from much touching in public, but, as ever, with Fitz, it was different. She found herself wanting more often than not to hold his hand or touch his arm, or otherwise be physically affectionate. Especially when he did or said something sweet. 

She thought of the faces he’d pulled at Sally & Milton’s earlier display and wondered where he landed on the subject. With a heartwarming silent answer to her consideration, Fitz kissed the side of her head as they meandered.

They moved slowly through the store, stopping to get what they needed, and trading kisses on cheeks and hands on backs. When they each grabbed their respective preferred types of milk their hands brushed as they dropped them in to the cart.

Jemma looked to him with a slight smile and Fitz linked his fingers with hers for a moment, catching her gaze. The space between them filled with their affections and her smile grew as he looked at her, eyes sharp and cornflower blue under the overhead lights.

“I’m glad you didn’t marry Milton.”

“Fitz...”

“I know it's stupid, I’m-”

“-not stupid, just-”

“-I know - just...I’m glad. That you - that no one else came along who-”

Jemma pulled him towards her by his hand and kissed him quick.

She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that there had never been and never would be anyone for her but Fitz.

Their eyes met again as she pulled away and she looked at him, her gaze conveying what words could not. She kissed him again softly and settled their hands back on the cart, moving them along. 

He intertwined his fingers with hers as they continued towards the front of the store, and as they rolled toward the checkout line, soft grins settled on their faces, Jemma’s expression turned and she dropped her hand.

“Jemma Simmons!”

A dark haired man greeted her with a surprised smile and Fitz could tell right away her gait was anxious.

“Tim, hi - hello, how are you?”

“Good. Out for some essentials,” he gestured to his basket, “You?”

“Oh. Doing some shopping for the week...”

She looked to Fitz, eyes hinted with concern.

“Fitz this is Tim, Tim, Fitz.”

“Hey.”

His suspicions were confirmed when the man gave him a squinting once over.

“Her boyfriend,” he added.

The words were strange as he said them and it felt at once awkward and exciting.

“Good to meet you Fitz the boyfriend,” Tim joked, “So... you’re still working for SHIELD then? I know you can’t say much of course.”

Jemma nodded, her smile forced still.

“You’ve got me there.”

He gave a chuckle and his turn in line saved them all from further awkwardness.

Fitz felt her relax slightly as Tim made his way to the cashier, and she looked at him briefly before linking her fingers with his slowly.

Normally he’d find the gesture comforting but it was unnerving to see her offset by the man’s presence. He pushed back the unpleasant thoughts in his head as Tim waved a goodbye and they went up to check out. 

~

Her shoulders released as they made their way out of the store and he started up immediately.

“What was that all about?”

Jemma sighed.

“Oh - nothing - we...well we went out once...recently. Twice I suppose. It was a bit of a set up, and I - it didn’t really - there wasn’t anything there so... he’s, um, asked me to dinner again and I, I’ve kind of...avoided him. I didn’t want to be rude and this is the second time I’ve seen him here - he lives not far as well - and I was just concerned he was going to bring it up again.”

Her pace was as clipped as her words as they took the street in long strides towards to her place and his jaw clenched as she talked.

“Has he been bothering you then?”

“No, I just - well, we had a nice enough time the first time, I just - after, we - it doesn’t matter now.”

“What does that mean...a nice enough time?”

He looked at his feet as he asked, not particularly proud of the swirl in his gut.

“Well as far as blind dates go it was fine and he was interesting enough. He’s a doctor - a medical doctor - a cardiopulmonary specialist in fact. Anway, he seems to be very dedicated to his work and he was nice, asked me quite a bit about myself and-”

“Nice enough for a second date?”

She stopped short, recognizing the tone in his voice. 

She was all too familiar with it, having spent two days asking him questions in the same measure.

“Fitz...”

“...when did you go out?”

“Earlier this year - before my holiday.”

“And the second date?”

“After I got back.”

He nodded and they began walking again.

“Why didn’t you want to see him again?”

“I just - it wasn’t...there wasn’t anything to...any...”

She felt a slice of the discomfort she knew he’d had - it was quite odd to explain why you  _ weren't  _ dating someone.

“So you wouldn’t have gone out with him again?”

“Fitz...”

“I know I said I didn’t - I didn’t want to know about how many - and I don’t - I’m just...I’m curious - if he was nice and interesting...and good looking...what was stopping you?”

“I told you. We - we’ve talked about it - the - the magic, as it were...”

“No magic?”

“None.”

They made their way on to her block and up the steps of her building.

One of Jemma’s neighbors was there, holding the door, and the pearly-toothed adonis waved them in and smiled big as she stopped.

“George! So nice to see you.”

“You too!”

He gave her a quick side hug and nodded his head to Fitz.

“It's Fritz, right?”

He scowled.

“George, this is my boyfriend, Fitz.”

George smiled bigger and winked at Jemma.

Fitz glowered.

“Well it's nice to see you again Fitz - you two should come over for coffee soon.”

“Will do,” Jemma agreed as they passed through the threshold “- tell Liam I said hello too.”

“Yep!”

George bounced his running shoes down the steps as Fitz followed Jemma to her door, and as they stepped inside he lingered awkwardly and she began to take the bags to the kitchen.

“Make yourself comfortable - if you want to find some music or something I’ll get this sorted and we can make dinner?”

He nodded, unwelcome feelings still reeling, and grabbed the remote to turn on the tv.  It had been a bit since he had been at her place but she had lived there for all the years they’d been at the Hub and he was quite familiar.  He moved quietly as he pulled his items from the bags and his voice was soft with melancholy as he notated.

“Gonna put this in the loo.”

As he took the toothbrush & razor out of their packaging, images of Tim & George & Milton flashed unwanted through his head. He didn’t want to think about where they’d be now if she’d gotten into a relationship over the years that had stuck.

Fitz returned to the noise of her beginning to pull pots and pans on to the stove.

“Will you eat chicken & broccoli rice?”

He nodded and she handed him a stock of broccoli.

He took it from her, going to the cabinet for a cutting board, and she handed him a veggie knife and began to get out the rice cooker before setting oil to heat in a pan. They were quiet as they worked, and Fitz took over preparing the rice after he set the broccoli to boil while she cooked the chicken. 

He opened the fridge afterward, looking in to decide what to drink and found a bottle of wine.

“Yeah?” he asked, showing it to her.

She nodded and he went to the cupboard that held the glasses, pouring them each one. He came up behind her to set her glass on the counter next to the oven and as he pulled his arm back she placed her hand on it.

Fitz stopped and she slowed for a moment, pulling it around her snuggly. 

Jemma could tell he was still brustling and she leaned back against him, hoping he’d do the same. Fitz obliged, bringing the other hand around and pulling her close as he leaned his chin on her shoulder.

She continued turning the chicken and sighed out, one hand still on his arm and he closed his eyes, taking in a breath as he squeezed her gently. After a couple minutes the timer went off and he kissed her hair before he moved to take the pot of broccoli off the burner.

He strained it while Jemma set another pan on the burner.

“Can you put some soy sauce in here with some sesame oil & garlic?”

He nodded and followed her instructions, the two of them standing side by side as they finished, and the warmth of his arm next to hers comforted Jemma. She knew he was still upset from their encounter at the grocery store and was unsure what exactly to say to address it.

When the rice was done he plated it and she combined the chicken & broccoli together with the soy sauce mixture.

“I’ll set the table,” he told her quietly, setting the plates next to her so she could finish them when she was done.

“Thank you.”

She brushed her fingers across his wrist and he gave her a small smile. They set out their meal and Fitz brought the wine to the table along with water for them both.

He was sombered by his earlier thoughts and they clouded his ability to enjoy the evening with her. He couldn’t shake the picture that had sharpened in his mind - Jemma, happily married and living the perfect life with the perfect man.

They ate quietly, each minute tightening Jemma’s stomach further and finally she set down her fork as she looked up at him.

“Would you please talk to me?”

He stilled.

“I don’t know what to say.”

“How about what’s bothering you?”

“Milton.”

The answer was quick and he looked down at his plate as the name angered him further.

“What?”

“He’s a twat.”

“You know I don't like that word.”

He looked up.

“He’s a wanker then. A nob.”

“So you’re upset with me because Milton irritates you? ...or because I went to dinner with a man from the checkout line?”

He chided himself for thinking he could keep anything from her.

“I’m not mad at you I’m mad at myself.”

“About what?”

Fitz sighed.

“I’m just... let’s just drop it.”

His voice was rough with agitation.

“Why would you be upset with yourself?”

He looked up, eyes dark and mouth downturned.

“Because I nearly missed out on the best thing that ever happened to me.”

Jemma opened her mouth to respond and  Fitz continued, voice tense.

“What if you had ended up with him...or Milton? Or George Gym Membership?”

“Well, George is-”

“What if I hadn’t realized until it was too late how I felt about you?”

“Fitz...I wouldn't - it's... do you see then how I felt?”

“What?”

“The women you’ve been out with - you said none of them were ... anything more...and it was absolutely torturing me thinking about it. How could you act like it didn’t matter when you feel the same way about my past relationships?”

“Jemma. It’s not the same.”

“How so?”

“I wouldn’t have ended up with any of them.”

“Well me either. Clearly!”

“You could have been happy with loads of guys Jemma. Guys better suited to you.”

His self-loathing seeped out of him and he winced at his own words.

“Now you’re being absolutely ridiculous. Who’s better suited for me than you? You’re my best friend and -”

“-in the world, yeah, I know - but you’re more than that to me Jemma and I didn’t-”

“I feel the same way!”

After everything they’d shared with each other, some part of him didn’t think it was enough.

“You know I do. I-”

“I need a break.”

He stood up, frustrated in his inability to explain himself and carried his plate to the sink.

“What?”

Jemma panicked, fear striking through her. She wouldn’t let a fight about something like this push them apart.

“I don't feel like I can talk about this right now.”

“Oh.”

Her heart rate decelerated as he began to rinse the dishes. 

“Are you going to leave?”

“Maybe I should.”

Her stomach dropped and she watched him, head heavy as he stood over the counter and she held back tears.

“If you think that’s what’s best.”

“I’ll help you clean up first.”

They were quiet again as Jemma started putting together the leftovers and he began loading the dishwasher. As they wiped up he stilled himself, walking to the coffee table to grab his wallet and keys.

She wanted to ask him again to talk to her, to explain what had him all in knots, to understand why he thought some old boyfriends were of any interest to her. 

Hadn’t she spent the last few days telling him how much she wanted him? And besides that, wasn't she really better positioned than anyone else to understand what he was feeling?

But she didn’t want to push and she knew he needed to clear his head. Things still felt unresolved though and she hated the idea of him going home alone to stew while she tossed & turned wondering if he was okay.

Jemma followed him to the door and as he opened it she reached out to his shoulder. He turned and she brought her arms up around his neck, hugging him tight. He stiffened for a moment and then his shoulders slackened as he pulled her in for a snug embrace.

She held him to her, unwilling to let go until he did and when he began to release he pulled back and looked at her, smile not meeting his eyes

“I’ll text you before I go to bed okay?”

She nodded, the concern on her face ever present, and he kissed her softly before pulling back, pressing his lips to her forehead. She loosened her arms and stayed in place as he stepped out the door.

As Fitz started to walk away, each step felt heavier than the last and he knew he was being a right idiot. 

He didn’t want this. He didn’t want to walk away from her. He wanted exactly the opposite. He wanted nothing more in the world than to be with her.

And how many ways had she told him that she wanted the same thing?  He’d gone and let one encounter make him believe it wasn’t enough.

Fitz stopped in his tracks, deciding if it was more cowardly of him to go or stay, and as he turned back the choice was easy.

He caught her in his arms as he stepped back towards her doorway.

“Can I stay?”

“Don’t go.”

Jemma kissed him firm as she brought him back inside and she was breathless as she began to pull at his shirt.

“We don’t have to talk,” she insisted, moving towards her room.

He reached out to her, hands on her back and her hips as his lips followed hers. 

They were swift as they made their way in to her bedroom, and Jemma pushed his shirt up, barely detaching from him as he pulled it off the rest of the way. Her hands went to his fly then, worried that if she stopped he would try to leave again, and she undid him quickly, pulling at his jeans. She kissed him again, mouth sloppy against his and he took her face in his hands, kissing her hard.

She yanked at his boxers too, leaving them both to drop at his shoes and he stumbled out of them as they kissed, pulling her to him as he hardened. She reached between them then, trying to stroke him as they fumbled along but he stopped her, kisses softening as he put one hand over hers.

He held her face still with the other as he looked at her and the depth of his eyes took up space inside her chest.  She kept her gaze on him as she reached down to start undressing herself, pulling off her clothes with quick fluidity.

They collided back together as they wrapped their arms around each other again, Fitz’s hand in her hair as he drug her into a deep kiss, and Jemma arched in to him with all of her parts, folding in to his body. She kissed him back desperately as he pressed his hand firmly against her lower back, pushing her against the door, and lifting her legs up as he positioned himself at her entrance.

Jemma gasped as he entered her, dropping down on him heavily as she tried to carry her own weight. He grasped under her, trying to balance her body, and bucked into her as he held her against the door.  Fitz was silent as his cock plunged inside of her and Jemma moaned as he thrusted, grunting out his exertion. He was deep and full inside of her and she clung to him as she felt the firm stroke of pleasure hit her hard and fast. He groaned as he moved, heaving her up as she began to slip and he stopped as he stood firm.

“Hold on.”

She pulled up as much of her weight as she could and he moved to the bed, dropping them down and not leaving her as he started again.

His eyes shut tight as he leaned over top of her, slamming in to her center, and Jemma was the first to make another familiar noise of pleasure. Her sounds brought him back to the moment, lips moving over her face to find the connection of her kiss, and his hands grabbed her firmly still as he pounded.

She cried her mounting pleasure in to his mouth, the singing pitch triggering his hand in to action and he moved it fast and hard against her clit.  Jemma squeezed at him immediately and his tongue worked inside her mouth as he drove in and out of her, the thrumming against her body pushing her quickly towards orgasm.

“Oh Fitz, yes, please, Fitz, yes, please.”

He sucked at her tongue and she clenched again. He needed her like this, tightened around him with pleasure, aching with her own desire for him.

“Do you want me Jemma? Do you want me to make you come?”

“Yes, yes, yes.”

She couldn’t fight back the whine that escaped and she pulsed around him again.

“I want you, oh I want you,” she moaned.

His thrusts were heavy and ragged as he cannoned in to her, fingers unyielding, and as Jemma started to come, her clit throbbed against his fingers. As she tensed around him with a singular tightening of her climax he pushed in to her deep and pointed.

Jemma yelled out as she came, back arching off the bed, and he continued through her orgasm, releasing his fingers so that he could press his entire body against hers, pistoning in to her.

He fucked her through her release, never letting up as she whimpered through the come down, and his hands were on her throat and her breast as he kissed her, passionately slowing her sighs.

His tongue lapped like liquid in her mouth, molten and delicious as he thrusted towards his own crescendo, and her hands went to his butt, holding him inside of her as she pitched her legs around him, squeezing every muscle available.

“Yes.”

A hiss escaped his lips and she tightened again, pulling him in to her.

“Come for me.”

Her voice was breathy and demanding and he pressed up on his hands then, lips still settled against hers, and she kept herself latched around him as she rucked him in to her. Fitz continued his thrusts, hungry for climax with her and she sighed pleasure through the lapping waves of her own bliss.

“Oh yes, please, Fitz, please, I want you - I want you.”

He shoved his mouth back against hers, picking up speed again and his tongue and his cock were insistent inside of her. As the outside word melted further away he felt himself find the thread of his release.

As he rolled his tongue through her mouth Jemma felt her own heat start to stoke again and she picked up her hips, thrusting against him as he hit the back of her.

Every muscle in her body was tensed as she pulled him further inside, stroking his cock against her soft and quivering center and as Jemma began to let go again he froze, a groan deep from his belly reverberating against her mouth. She held him there, stretching out the cascading pleasure of her second orgasm as she clenched around him and he came.

“Oh Jem-Jem-Jemma”

He expelled himself inside of her with a final grunt and his stomach fell to rest on hers as he dropped his weight on his hands, kissing her between panting breaths.

“Jemma,” he breathed again, his mouth dotting across her lips and face.

Her hands traveled up his back as she kissed him back, loosening her legs. Fitz was slow to remove himself but quick to stand and she sprawled atop the covers as he kissed her firm.  He moved to lie next to her, accepting her unspoken invite to cocoon against her side, and Jemma smiled as she stroked through the back of his hair immediately.

“I only want you,” she told him, an unbidden response to an unasked question.

Fitz stilled for a moment and hugged her tighter, leg wrapping over hers.

“I know.”

“Should we talk about it?” she asked, fingers roaming a comforting pattern on his head.

The endorphins flooding his brain wanted nothing to do with the things that had been upsetting him minutes ago.

“I just want to be here. With you.”

“Later then?”

He nodded against her chest and she giggled at the tickle.  When Fitz looked up at her she heard her own voice echo back in her head.

She only wanted him. 

His sweet lips and his coarse hair and his pale skin and his soft heart. Him.

She smiled through the radiation from her chest and she ached again for better words to tell him exactly how he made her feel.

“Oxytocin,” she thought out loud.

His expression was perked with interest.

“Oxytocin,” she smiled as she said it purposefully this time.

“When we’re together, we're producing a significant amount of oxytocin.”

“Okay.”

“That's one of the - scientifically that’s what - it's one of the chemicals released-”

“By people when they have sex.”

“Not just that - it's been shown when hugging, and other acts of intimacy.”

He responded by settling himself closer to her, his hand resting across ribcage.

“Oxytocin,” he murmured, his voice drowsy as he pressed his mouth above her breastbone.

“A surplus of Oxytocin - with you. Being with you makes my body produce above average amounts of oxytocin.”

He chuckled silently against her skin, her words filling him with his own chemical reaction.

“More than...more than anyone else - any other person I've ever known.”

His head tilted up again and Fitz saw the question in her eyes. She wanted to ensure he understood what she was saying.

“You're special. To me. What we have is more than anything else I could ever have with anyone because it's you. No one else.”

He leaned up to kiss her, unable to find any semblance of words that befit a response, and her mouth met his with ease. His hands found her breast as their kiss began to deepen and he touched her gently, thumbing over her nipple.  She felt a sharp lick of pleasure to her middle and her feet arched.

“Mmmm,” she moaned softly, nerves lighting up across her peaks.

His kiss was softer now, his tongue gentle and rolling, and she swiped back with hers, flicking it around his own.

Fitz sighed back at her, hand caressing back down her ribs, palm brushing toward her stomach. As her leg fell open under his, he smiled, once again brought to delight by how he pleased her.  His hand swiped across her belly, delicate as it followed down her thigh, and his kissing slowed as he stroked down the inside of her leg.

“Should I keep going?” he asked, resting against her mound.

“Mmhmm,” she nodded against his face.

His fingers slid through her wetness, stroking the inner folds of her softness and she hummed.

“Jemma,” he breathed, kissing her neck.

“Yes,” she encouraged, hand brushing down his neck still.

He swept his fingers down to her entrance and back up to her clit, circling slowly before repeating his actions.

“I want you so much,” he murmured, lips against her ear.

Her legs burned as her clit throbbed again and she knew she needed him.

“Touch me,” she panted back.

His tongue went up her neck as he began to move his fingers in earnest and she sucked in watery breath immediately.  He was hardening again against her thigh and Fitz began to suck at her earlobe as he thrummed his fingers faster.

“I want you Jemma,” he told her again, breath hot as he slid his tongue in her ear.

“Yes, please, oh Fitz.”

Her voice was needy as she began to arch her hips towards his and he wove his hand through her wetness again, bringing it back to her peak. She shuddered as he moved faster and he rested his mouth against her throat, heaving breath as he began to rise.

“Jemma, I want you,” he told her again, beginning to move against her leg.

She pulled his face up to hers, kissing him hard and expelled back.

“Don’t stop.”

He kissed her back with hunger as he continued to rut against her and slid his fingers into her channel.

“Jemma...”

He groaned her name as he began to leak, and she keened again.

“My clit, please.”

He moved again, taking his fingers hard and fast to her nub and she cried out.

“Fitz!”

She bit down on her own bottom lip and his hips moved.

“Jemma, please, I need you.”

“Yes, yes, yes.”

He leveled his groin with hers, letting up as he pulled her to her side and hitched her leg over his, opening her with his hand as he moved in to her. She moaned again, bringing her own fingers down and they both began moving .

Jemma’s words stopped as she became concentrated and he watched with burning desire as she touched herself while he moved in and out of her. Her nipples hardened as she leaned against his chest, head resting on his shoulder as they rocked on their sides.

“Faster,” she begged, rolling her own hips quickly.

The room filled with heavy breathing as they both worked toward another climax and Fitz groaned as he thrust his hips firm and fast.

“I need you, I need you to come, come for me, come for me Jemma.”

Her hand moved quick and hard between them and she whined against his skin as she started to mount. Their motions were desperate now, shaking and needy and she clenched hard around him as she cried out her blunted climax.

As her walls tightened with a pulse Fitz came again abruptly and he pulled her in to him as he jutted his release.

“Oh god, Jemma. Jemma. Jemma.”

His mouth was on hers again and she moaned in to him as she rolled on to her back, keeping him inside her as she kissed him deep.

Fitz thrust slowly as he finished, licking in to her mouth as he huffed labored breaths through his nose, and as he slowed, stilling on top of her, she released his lips, breathing out a heavy sigh.

He rested there, his forehead against hers, both of them seeing stars as they came down.

“Be right back,” he panted, sliding out with a small grunt.

She was curled on the bed still when he returned from the washroom and he kissed her on the shoulder before putting his underwear back on. 

“Water?”

“Yes.”

She sighed, getting up to use the toilet herself, and Jemma threw their other clothes in to a hamper before taking it to the washer in the bathroom with her. He met her in the bedroom as she was getting in to her own shorts and shirt.  She took the water from him with a languid smile and then pointed to the top of the dresser.

“That should fit you.”

He put on the old SHIELD Academy t-shirt and she reached out to him, leading him back down the hallway.

“Get the lights,” she told him, moving to the kitchen.

He met her back at the couch as she set the glasses and bottle on the table in front of the tv.

“Sit.”   


He settled against the arm of the sofa and she took up space next to him, throwing the blanket over them as she snuggled into his side, both of them getting comfortable.

Jemma looked up at him.

“You’re the only person I want to do this with. All of it.”

Fitz looked down at her, heart rate still returning to normal, and her eyes were locked on his - determined, sincere, serious.

His shoulders relaxed as he willed himself to let her words sink in and a smile formed as he replied.

“Then let’s not waste it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone following this story!


	13. Happy Ending

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fitz & Simmons start a new week.

“Hey, Jemma...”

She was groggy as she came into consciousness.

“It's early still, don't get up.”

His hand rested lightly on her face as his thumb brushed across her cheekbone, and she registered mildly that he was out of bed and leaning over her.

“We’ve got a breakfast for my meeting.”

Fitz leaned down further to kiss her gently and she held his hand to her face. He fought desperately against the urge to crawl right back in to bed and wrap himself around her and never let go. He rested his forehead against hers instead, intertwining their fingers and pulling them to his lips. Jemma reached up to kiss his own knuckles and began to waken.

“You’ll be in your meeting all day?”

“Yeah. Dinner after too.”

“Okay.”

Her voice was hinted with disappointment.

“I can skip it.”

“No - you should go. Come back here after?”

“Absolutely.”

He kissed her on the lips and then the forehead, and as he stood up her hand followed. He squeezed it and she turned towards him, eyes heavy as she tried to focus. He gazed at her with a silent farewell from the bedside and her voice was a whisper.

“...I'll miss you...”

He leaned down to kiss her head again and Fitz felt the pang of their separation. The idea of leaving her even for a few hours made him ache.

“I'll see you soon.”

“Fitz...”

He stopped in the doorway and she forced her eyes open enough to make him out in the sunlight peeking through her blinds.

“...are we okay?”

His chest tightened.

“Yeah. Of course.”

“Okay.”

They shared a parting glance and he headed through the dark of the apartment to the front door.

~

The air was crisp and the sky was orange as he clipped down the street, folding his arms tight across his chest for warmth. He was full of a dull sadness as he made his way to the train and his head was back in her room.

He missed her.

He needed her. Needed to know that they would be okay.

He hated that he made her doubt anything. He hated even more that he didn't completely believe his own words.

He knew that he was wrong about her being happy with another guy - or maybe he was right and he was just the luckiest bloke on the planet.

It hadn’t occurred much to him to think about her past relationships until one had been staring him in the face, and he tried to challenge his consideration that she might be missing out on something better as he worked through the problem in his head.

Sure there were better men - smarter, more handsome.

But she had fallen for him.

She wanted him.

She couldn't get enough of it him.

Fitz smiled to himself as he rode the train in the early hours of the morning. It was quiet and solitary and it gave him space to consider why he was so plagued by this notion of her theoretical happiness with another man, when it was so abundantly clear how happy she was with him.

Maybe he was spot on that she deserved better but she wanted him anyway.

He hadn’t asked himself as many questions in their first couple days together - too overwhelmed and overcome by everything burgeoning between them - but he’d known by their first dinner that it wasn’t a fling - it wasn’t some sordid affair they’d reference vaguely with awkward humour in future years.

It was more. So much more. More than either of them had imagined. Of course it was.

He was falling completely in love with her...and somehow, she felt the same.

___

Jemma’s day was long but overly productive in Fitz’s absence. She looked across to his desk more times than she could count before lunch as she immersed herself in getting caught up with projects.

Things had been...distracting...the last several days - first by the confusion and frustration of her burgeoning feelings for him, and then by the overwhelming rush of their new relationship.

She took notes and finished reports and submitted expenses for four of her open projects and had no less than two breakthroughs on her field samples all by lunch. She texted Fitz as she heated up a microwave meal, deciding to avoid the cafeteria after their run in from the previous day.

 

_Hope your day is going well. A bit dull down here without you but I’m having quite a productive day. Anything good for lunch up there?_

 

 _Sandwich spread_  
_Nothing to write home about_  
_No prosciutto & mozzarella_  
_: )_

 

She beamed immediately at his response, happy to see him in a good mood.

 

_I’ll make us some later for lunch tomorrow_

 

 _Really?_  
_You don’t have to go to all the trouble_

 

She started to respond that it wasn’t too much and thought otherwise.

 

_Perhaps you’ll think of a way to return the favor?_

 

She bit her lip as she smirked at herself, a particular idea flashing through her own mind.

 

_My pleasure_

 

She set her phone down, grinning as she tucked in to her own lunch, and her thoughts wandered happily. She thought of the flushed smile he probably had on his face and his adam's apple bobbing as he gulped down the pictures in his own head. Her delight settled across her face as she flipped through a periodical in the break room and her thoughts were soon interrupted by one of her labmates.

“Hi Simmons - you mind some company?”

“Oh! Not at all.”

The woman joined her at the table, unloading her lunch bag.

“Have a good weekend?”

“Oh, yes - it was lovely. We went to the botanical gardens on Saturday and it was absolutely beautiful. How about you?”

“Helped my in-laws clean out their garage - a little less beautiful but it was fun to unearth some pictures and things from my wife’s childhood.”

Jemma smiled and both women took a bite out of their food.

“So who’s we - is this the new guy that you’re seeing?”

“What?”

“Word spreads fast - tell me if I have bad gossip though.”

“Oh - I, well - Saturday - I was with, um, it wasn’t...”

As she stumbled through her sentence she was reminded that Milton & Sally had seen them and there was no turning back now.

“It's - I was with Fitz. He and I - it's...we’re - we’re seeing each other.”

As her chest loosened she felt a wave of joy at her own statement. She couldn’t have predicted how excited she’d be to tell someone, but before it could overwhelm her she was distracted by Sheena’s expression of utter surprise.

“No. Way. Really?”

Jemma wasn’t quite sure how to take it and she nodded cautiously.

“WOW. That is - wow. That is...wow. Congratulations. Really. I didn’t - goodness I didn't think it would ever-wow...I suppose when you know, you know, right?”

Her ruffled feathers smoothed at the encouraging smile from the woman.

“I suppose you do.”

~

“So are you and Simmons doin the do or what?”

“Huh?”

Fitz pocketed his phone as he looked around, mildly comforted to see that no one else was in the sandwich line with he and Diaz.

“Simmons. A little birdy said they saw you together this weekend.”

Fitz cursed a certain name under his breath and looked around again, busying himself with the cold cuts on his plate.

“It's, uh - we're...together,” he mumbled surreptitiously.

His eyes darted around them and he hoped the other man would drop it - even though he knew better.

“For real?”

Fitz nodded.

“Thank god.”

Diaz slapped him on the back as he loaded up on his own second helping.

“Just, could you not...we don't want it to be a big thing.”

“Are you kidding? Everyone will happy for you. You're in love!”

“Well we - it's early, and ...”

He guided them back to where they were sat at the back of the room.

“Fitz, my man - you can't be serious. You two look at each other like some sort of epic romance. It's not early - it's overdue.”

He smirked to himself as he tucked in to his plate.  
___

It was nearing sundown when Fitz let himself in and Jemma rose from her spot at the kitchen table - smiling big as she jumped up to greet him, her radiance hitting him like sunlight.

He scooped her in to a kiss as he dropped his bag in the living room and her arms hugged tight around his upper back as she rested her face against his.

“Missed you,” he sighed, holding her against his chest.

“Mmm, I missed you.”

She hugged him firmly and they stood for a moment in each other's embrace.

“How was your day?”

“Long. Good though.”

He pulled back to connect as he talked.

“They liked the presentation but there's a lot more to do. How about you?”

“Oh! Good! The materials we've been researching - it's classified now but I listed you as a researcher - you did help analyze the results after all. It's an attempt of the same serum Banner and Ross were trying to replicate at Culver University! Field agents found some in a lab in California. I had time to look at your specs too and sent you some notes, and you’ll-”

She was interrupted by a quick kiss.

“Sorry - you’re very cute when you’re talking about your research.”

Her grin took up her entire face and he kissed her once more for good measure.

She smooched him back and continued.

“As I was saying - I sent you some notes, so you should look at them tomorrow morning and we can discuss them after lunch. We need to find a way to format the material that houses the laser so that it doesn’t compromise the heating components - I think poly adaptive material might work.”

“Won’t it melt through?”

“We’d have to test different finishing agents.”

His expression was considering and Jemma brought her hands around and over his shoulders as he nodded. Her face was relaxed as she smiled and he rested his hands on her lower back.

“I'm glad you’re home,” she sighed.

Home.

Any stress from his day was washed away and his gaze was soft as he smiled back.

“I missed you terribly.”

He pulled her forward for another kiss and her chest hummed as their mouths connected. His lips were sweet and firm against hers and Jemma's fingers slid up his shoulders and around his neck, dancing in to his hair. He smiled against her lips as she nosed against his face, parting their mouths. Fitz held her close as she began to kiss his cheek.

“I missed you too,” she mumbled, “I don’t like not seeing you all day.”

He closed his eyes and she cupped the back of his head, placing delicate busses around his face. When she reached his mouth again her lips were tender as she pecked him repeatedly. She sighed as she settled her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes as she breathed quietly against his neck.

“You ate dinner, yeah?”

“Mmhmm.”

She hugged her arms around his chest and looked at him as she nodded. As his eyes connected with hers he was overwhelmed with the things he still needed to say. His gaze intensified as they made eye contact and when he spoke his words were soft and perplexed.

“I feel like I’m going to wake up and realize this is all a dream.”

Her response caught, breath waiting to be expelled, and his tone shifted.

“I... I think that's why - why I was trying not to analyze it... I didn’t want to ... to waste any time.”

Her expression was sympathetic as she stood up straight to face him.

“Did you think - do you think we - that we’re going to change our minds?”

Her head shook subtly as she questioned the notion.

“It just feels almost too good to be true...and I...”

He took a clearing breath.

“I'm sorry I couldn't say - last night, I didn't, I didn't know how to - how to say what I was feeling.”

Her hands rested behind his ears as she gazed at him openly.

“Do you think you can try now?”

His nerves settled in his torso as he nodded and he ran his hands up her sides and arms, taking her wrists.

“Can we sit?”

Jemma felt an anxious swirl form in her stomach and he guided them to the couch - hands settled between them. Fitz looked down at her fingers resting in his palms, and ran his thumb over them as he formulated his thoughts.

“I didn’t want you to look around one day and feel like we did this too fast or that you're...that you were stuck with me.”

“Too fast? Fitz...”

She waited until he looked up to continue.

“- it's been years...besides, I like being stuck with you.”

His mouth crooked in to a small smile and she moved a hand to his face.

“I want to be with you. You.”

“I know - I do - I ... me too - I do. So much. So much Jemma. I just...I want... I want to...I want to be the right man for you.”

Her heart ached to explain how much he already was.

“You are. You have a brilliant mind, and a good heart, and you make me laugh, and you are my favorite person in the world. You're completely perfect for me.”

He couldn't deny the sincerity in her eyes and the determination in her voice, and Fitz had no reply but to kiss her. Jemma pressed her mouth firm against his, forcing her words to sink in to his lips.

When she needed to part for air she kissed him again immediately and his hands moved around her back as he pulled her in. She kissed him back with purpose and her mouth was insistent as she held them together.

Finally when they pulled back slightly, she looked at him, almost daringly.

“I thought about you all day. I wished you were in the lab. Wished I could see you - talk to you.”

“Jemma, I-”

“You're the person I've wanted to talk to about everything since the day we met.”

She felt the air he held in and he looked between her eyes and lips for a moment before he darted forward, crashing his kiss against her mouth. His tongue slipped through her lips right away and Jemma moaned softly as she pulled him forward.

Her mouth moved with firm force as she put every word she couldn’t articulate in to her kisses. His hands moved up the back of her shirt, grasping at her as he sucked her tongue into his mouth, and Jemma felt her legs heat as soon as he touched her skin. She wanted him. To touch him, to feel him, to show him he was everything and more to her.

He reached the clasp of her bra quickly, undoing it and kissing her deeply as his hands roamed the full landscape of her back. Fitz needed to hold her, to envelope her in his arms and show her he could be everything she saw in him.

As he palmed around around her sides, his fingers slid under the loosened cups, fondling her breasts eagerly, and she lifted her arms up without question. He sat back as he pulled her t-shirt and bra off, looking down at her shorts as he decided his next move, and his hands went to the drawstring,

“Lay back,” he told her, fingers going to her waistband.

She saw the hunger in his eyes and knew what he was aiming for. She reached for his shirt instead.

“Both of us,” she told him, starting on his buttons.

He obliged, helping her with the others and they both stood, starting to undress further. When they were down to their briefs he pulled her towards him, hands in her hair as he took her lips to his mouth, and Jemma ran her hands up his back as he kissed her - lustful and focused.

“Let’s go to the bedroom,” she breathed, “I want to see you.”

She pecked him quickly before pulling back to take his hands and they traded unfocused kisses on their way to her room. When they arrived, she encouraged him forward on to the bed, her hands on his shoulders as he eyed her chest.

He was speechless as she pushed him back, and when she started to pull off her own underwear he did the same, his growing erection springing free.

She eyed it immediately and saliva gathered in her mouth.

“I want you. Both of us - together. I want your mouth on me while I do the same to you.”

He shuddered a breath out as he nodded, completely transfixed.

“Come here,” he managed.

He pulled her into his arms and brought her to his mouth for a kiss, her heat settling over top of him. She felt him twitch underneath her and she wanted him inside of her - his cock, his fingers, his tongue.

“Touch me?” she asked, as she straddled him loosely.

He kissed her back in response as he slid a hand under her, pressing his fingers to her opening. Jemma breathed out as her calves shot heat to her groin, and the tips of his fingers slid into her.

She settled on his hand easily, and as soon as he touched her inner walls, she started to flutter. He kissed her still as he began to move inside of her, striking her arousal, and his other hand was in her her hair again, keeping her against his lips.

“Do you want this first?”

His voice was both gritty & soft.

“Yes,” she breathed, arms lingering around his shoulders

As she began to ride his hand, her lips swept across his, and his fingers were agile as he tapped them against her inner muscles. His mouth traveled, licking up her neck, and his cock hardened as she writhed over top of it, milking at his fingers, pulsing against his groin.

“Jemma...” he groaned, hips beginning to buck.

“Harder,” she responded, chin reaching to the ceiling as her neck stretched in pleasure.

He plunged into her as he panted against her neck, and before he could go much further he felt her clench as she gasped - her internal climax taking her quickly. She pressed her lips together as she came, stopping his fingers to move from them after a moment.

“I need you,” she breathed, words barely coherent as she wrapped her palm around his hard on.

“Is this okay - can we?”

He barely registered what she was asking as he stared down at her hand stroking him with intent.

“Yes. Whatever you want.”

“I want you.”

Jemma’s eyes fell shut as she impaled herself on him and she cried out as he hit the back of her. She remembered immediately how forceful he’d been the night before and her memory flitted back as she began to bounce on top of him.

Fitz grabbed her hungrily, thrusting into her as she gyrated and he was enthralled and exhilarated by her eagerness.

“Jemma, oh Jemma... is this what you want? Me. Inside of you?”

“Yes, yes - I need you.”

She pulled herself up around his shoulders, holding tight as she dropped her weight on him with each down stroke, and as she tightened around him he crowed.

“Jemma!”

“Tell me what you want,” she urged, “I want to know.”

“Jemma!” he groaned again, “You - I want you.”

“What do you want Fitz?”

“You. You feel so good. When you’re tight it's so-oh god!”

He couldn’t even get the words out before she constricted her muscles around him and she held taut as they both began to pant toward their culmination, wrapped up in each other as they thrust back and forth.

“Oh Fitz, I want you - I want you to make me come...please.”

Her thoughts were unfiltered and her voice was low as her climax started to rise, and he cupped his hands under her butt as he pulled her on top of him, positioning himself at her center.

He was breathless as he drove in to her with every remaining reserve of energy he had left, and she angled her hips as she tightened her walls around him, pushing herself against his pistoning tip.

“Yes!”

She grabbed at the back of his shoulders as she started to rise, and as she gasped out her mounting release he spasmed with a low shout.

“Oh!”

He struck in to her again as he finished and Jemma held him tight inside of her as she etched out her own brief release. They both slacked immediately and she pushed him forward as she pressed her lips to his, sliding up and off the bed.

Jemma kissed him again, lingering overtop of him as she got up.

“Think about what you want me to do with my mouth when I get back.”

Her self satisfied grin was evident as she strode to the bathroom then the kitchen and back, water in hand, and Fitz was still exhausted against the side of the bed, feet planted on the floor over the edge.

Her mood was playful as she positioned herself between his legs and encouraged him up. He sighed as he gathered his strength and his gaze was unfocused as he took the offered hydration.

She turned to set the glass back on the side table and when she came back it was to his arms, Fitz pressing his face to her breasts as he pulled them both on to the bed. She giggled as they toppled on to the mattress and he nuzzled himself against her chest immediately, kissing her solar plexus as he held her on top of him.

“Don't even think about moving,” he mumbled against her upper ribs.

His hands roamed her backside as he kissed against her breasts, palms stroking the length of her curves, and Jemma took him in, hands in the top of his hair as he rolled his tongue around her nipple.

He stroked her sides and her butt and her hips with one hand and her back and her shoulders and her neck with the other as he pursed his lips against her wherever his mouth could reach. His motions were eager and affectionate as he rolled them to the side, continuing his exploration of her with his hands and his mouth and Fitz lost himself in the adulation of her skin.

She moved to kiss him, trying to level their faces, and he rolled her on to her back.

“This is what I want,” he explained, pressing warm kisses against her neck.

“Tell me,” she insisted, hands finding a place on his upper back.

“I want to kiss you. I never want to stop kissing you.”

His hand rested on her hip as he urged down her torso, nipping at the skin on her stomach, and Jemma’s eyes fell shut as he roamed, tongue skipping across her ribcage and under her breast.

“Come back here soon - I want to kiss you too.”

He smiled as he brought his hand to her other breast, placing open mouthed kisses on it's twin, and she scraped the pads of her fingers softly through the hair on the back of his head.

She hadn’t taken nearly enough time to appreciate it during their earlier tryst.

“Fitz,” she called, eyes still lulled shut.

“Mmm?”

He kissed around her mounds, settling at the top of her roundness.

“I want to hold you.”

He looked up and her eyes were still closed, brow slightly furrowed. He kissed back up her neck as he moved, settling partially on top of her.

“I’m here,” he comforted, nudging her face with his nose.

She pulled her mouth to his as she wrapped an arm and a leg around him and squeezed him tight to her chest as she placed her hand on his neck and her lips on his mouth. She kissed him firm before setting their heads in to the crooks of eachother's shoulder, and he pressed his lips to the tendons of her neck as she pet his back again.

Fitz kept his mouth and his hand moving, eager to map every bit of her that he could and she relished in the comfort of his closeness.

“I missed you,” she stated again.

“Insatiable,” he mumbled casually.

Her laugh shook in her abdomen and he smiled as he moved to her throat. She loosened her grip, keeping him near, and he kissed the other side of her neck and face as he continued, pausing to nibble at her ear.

“Do you want me to stay up here or can I show you the other places I’d like to kiss you?”

She wanted that. She did. Very much. But the idea of him being so far away from her arms right now felt wrong.

“Let me kiss you first.”

He chuckled again.

“We’ll take turns.”

He pulled them to their sides again and kissed down to her collarbone, heading toward her breast.

Jemma kissed the top his head and down the side of his face, causing him to turn up in to her, catching her mouth with his lips.

His tongue ran across the seam and he tugged a nipple between his fingers. Jemma sighed as the pulse shuttered down her legs and to her groin.

She slotted his leg in between hers, seeking pressure as she kissed him back, tongue rolling in his mouth, and his breath was sharp as he felt her heat against his thigh.

She moved her hips restlessly against him, her clit beginning to ache, and he pressed back. His hand moved down her front as she held him in place with her fervent mouth, and it swept around her breasts again, squeezing them in turn before moving to her stomach.

Fitz loosened his thigh from her grasp as his fingers trailed toward the apex of hers, and as they swept across her she cried out in to his mouth, grabbing a handful of hair.

His scalp stung at her reaction and he was immediately roused in to further action, dragging her bottom lip between his teeth. She whined again and he slid his fingers through her folds.

She was noisy with want as he kissed her, and as a bolt of desire struck through Jemma she grabbed his hair and sucked his tongue, sliding her lips back and forth around it.

It was his turn to groan audibly, and his fingers pressed firmly against her nub. His breath was hot and she wanted his mouth on her as much as she knew he did.

Jemma kissed him hard and pressed him gently towards the wall.

“Turn on your other side,” she urged, pushing at his hip, “facing me.”

“Not the wall then?”

She nudged her foot at his thigh and he chuckled silently to himself before kissing her.

He repositioned and they settled, and Fitz leaned on one elbow as he looked down the other end of the bed.

“You're very far away.”

“I think I’m right where I need to be.”

Jemma reached for him, hand brushing against his cock.

Fitz was regaining his erection slowly, and he bit his bottom lip as he watched her.

“Two can play at that game, Simmons.”

“That is the idea.”

He leaned forward, settling a hand on her hip and he hovered his mouth over her.

“Is this what you had in mind then?”

She clenched as the hot air bristled against her and she nodded as she stroked softly down his shaft.

He released air again as she moved the ring of her hand upward, and he pulled her closer.

“Keep doing that.”

“What about th-”

She stopped short as he dipped his mouth against her center, wet lips cresting against her outer folds, and her knee kicked up almost involuntarily, opening herself to him further.

Fitz drifted his mouth to her peak, brushing his lips around it and she was at a level of arousal that had every single motion of his striking hot pleasure through her.

She didn’t want to forget him though and she wiggled closer as she placed one hand on his hip for purchase, kissing at his inner thigh while the other moved up and down his hardness.

Fitz groaned as her soft mouth hit his sensitive skin, and he sucked against her clit, lapping at it from a newfound angle. Things were a bit harder to get at from this position but he was eager and willing to figure it out.

She was clearly ready for more and he pressed her leg, holding it open as he began to flick his tongue.

“Oh Fitz!”

His name was a whine from her mouth and he mouthed at her eagerly.

Jemma was consumed, as always, and though she was enjoying herself she wasn’t sure how she was going to be able to focus on him while he was bringing her swiftly toward the edge.

She closed her eyes, resting her hand as she took in three deep breaths and tried to compartmentalize the sensation of her lower body from what she wanted to be doing with his.

She angled his cock toward her mouth, sucking it slowly between her lips, and he froze immediately, groaning against her.

She felt a small satisfaction that the multitasking was difficult for both of them and he recovered quickly, moaning still as he began to flutter his tongue across her again.

She whimpered through her nose as she sucked him harder and it was clear that this had become a wonderful competition - both of them eager to get each other off and trying not to lose focus.

Fitz felt Jemma clench as a particular rush of hormones hit her, an she laved her tongue slowly as she groaned.

His mouth was nothing short of complete ecstasy, and she wanted so much for him to share in that pleasure with her. She started to circle her tongue around his tip and she felt him tighten - a welcome sign of his enjoyment.

His mouth was eager again sucking at her and she gasped, releasing him for a moment as her hips started to buck involuntarily.

“Mmm...”

He moaned as he lapped flat strokes against her clit and Jemma’s mouth fell to his thigh, hot breath blowing over his shaft as she clutched at his legs.

She started to feel a familiar fuse burning inside of her, and she moaned, licking at him again.

His pelvis followed toward her mouth and it incited her to continue, her far arm moving up to clutch his butt as she she started to suck him in earnest, and he did the same to her - not letting up as he tensed through his own pleasures.

Fitz was near bursting again and every sound and move she made egged him on. As she cupped his ass he couldn’t help himself, thrusting into her mouth as he buried his face between her legs.

He felt Jemma’s mouth tighten around him and faintly registered that her whole body was tensing as he continued to stimulate her clitoris.

The only downside of the position was that he couldn’t catch a glimpse of her as she started to orgasm, and he settled for the sound of her moans around his cock.

His tongue was firm against her clit as he worked her to the top of her crest and she cried out silently as she piqued, her mouth loosening around him.

He exhaled as she finished, kissing across the top of her and over her hip, and he nibbled at the skin there as she started moving her mouth again, tongue rolling around his length as she relaxed her legs.

Her mouth was eager and her body was warm and she wanted his pleasure.

He rested his face against her leg, kissing it with no other purpose than to stay close to her, and he felt his cock twitch with pressure as she continued.

“Yes, Jemma, yes.”

She sped up then and the end was near for him as she slid her mouth purposefully up and down. The bobbing of her head was fast and intentional and she felt his cheeks clench under hand, signaling the nearness of his release.

When she swirled her tongue around his head again he jerked and began to go.

Fitz bit against the skin of her thigh as he came and Jemma grabbed him as he finished, swallowing as she sucked him through his release. It was quick and tart and she slid her mouth off him slowly, falling to her back.

“Holy shit,” he exasperated as she did the same, reaching down to hold himself through the spasm of his aftershocks.

She reached up to cup him, watching his face at the other end of the bed, and he covered her hand with his, both of them holding him through the come down.

Jemma’s head fell back, her own climax abating and she regulated her breathing as her brain swirled.

“That was amazing,” she lauded, stretching out her limbs.

Fitz squeezed her hand and let it go and she took a deep breath, rolling over for the water on the nightstand.

“Jemma?”

He was still catching his breath.

“Will you come down here? I don’t think I can move...”

She sighed with a happy smile before sitting up, moving to her knees to fall on to her side next to him.

Her hand rested on his abdomen as she watched his face, and he looked at her with a gaze that could only be described as lovestruck.

She kissed his forehead and then his lips swiftly and they both caught their breath still as they locked into one another’s gaze.

“I think I’m the luckiest man in the universe.”

She smiled, a small laugh escaping her nose at the hyperbole, and leaned forward, kissing him softly.

“I feel the same way,” she told him simply, resting next to him so they could see each other.

“Like you’re the luckiest man?”

She responded with gentle seriousness.

“Like everything's better when I'm with you...and I can’t imagine ever feeling anything but happy to be with you.”

Her hand moved to his cheek and he closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath.

She felt the same way. He knew she did. There was no arguing it.

When he opened them he was met with her tender hazel eyes and he wanted nothing more than to bathe in her affections.

“Jemma. When we’re together I... I just can’t imagine anything but being with you all the time.”

She bit her lips together before responding.

“Is that what you want?”

“Yes.”

His answer was effortless and immediate.

Hers followed just the same.

“Okay.”

“What?”

“Let’s do that...go back to where this all began.”

“I don’t think I understand.”

“Do you remember how quickly we became inseparable?” she asked, hand settling on his chest.

“For years. At the Academy. At SciOps. We’ve been by each other's side this whole time... and some things have changed, but, perhaps this can be our new normal.”

"This?"

“You and me. Together. Mornings. Evenings. Weekends....Holidays.”

She wanted him. All of him. All the parts of him. The parts that brightened her day. The parts he he seemed to save just for them. The parts that he had only ever whispered to her in his most vulnerable moments.

“I love being with you - in fact I hate the idea of being without you - it case I hadn’t made that clear,” she added.

“Yeah?”

Fitz’s eyes were shining as her words settled and he knew now that she’d been extremely clear. Since the day they’d first spoken to each other she’d made it abundantly obvious that she wanted to spend all her time with him.

“Yeah.”

“Evenings & weekends?”

“And holidays.”

He smiled, skating a hand over her waist.

“Planning a trip?”

“Perhaps...it has been a while since we went anywhere together. Maybe somewhere sunny - the beach - or we could go to the lake.”

A plan seemed to be formulating in her head and her eyes started to spark.

“We could rent a cabin, read by the water - stay up late, have ice cream for dinner...”

She smiled as memories of their younger years inspired her plans.

“You really do want to go back to where we started.”

She kissed his cheek and pulled back.

“I might just want ice cream.”

Fitz laughed allowed, taking her hand and bringing it to his lips.

“Should we go get some and then start looking for a place to rent for a weekend?”

“Sounds perfect.”

~

“You could’ve stayed upstairs, I would have come down,” Fitz said, his fingers entwined with hers as they perused the small freezer section of the convenience store.

She shrugged as she let go of his hand - reaching into the door for a pint of mint chocolate chip.

“I wanted to come with you.”

He kissed her nose and she proffered her selection to him.

Fitz nodded and as Jemma began to see if they needed anything else she watched his expression change. She wondered what was making him uncomfortable and she followed his eyeline to find an equally nervous woman their age coming near them.

“Hi,” she greeted with an awkward wave.

He was completely frozen in place, barely able to squeak out a hello.

“How have you been?” she asked

“Uh uhm - fine. How...how are you?”

The woman spared a quick glance at Jemma, and she tried not wince at the second hand discomfort.

“Good.”

He nodded and she waited for a response that didn’t arrive. She seemed to push her shoulders back and make a decision.

“You didn’t call.”

Jemma couldn’t decide if it would be better or worse if she said something.

“I’m sorry, I, I -”

“It's fine - just...you could have texted at least, told me you were...unavailable,” she finished, sparing a glance at Jemma.

He nodded apologetically and she frowned before turning away.

Neither of them said anything as they walked toward the register, and suddenly he stopped, scrunching his face.

“Hang on - I, I need to...I’ll be right back.”

Jemma watched as he followed the girl, catching her before she made her way out of the store. She couldn’t hear but saw him speak rapidly and he pointed her way then continued.

The woman’s face went from surprise to confusion to curiosity as he rambled and then Fitz took a breath. The brunette seemed to be almost smiling and she nodded, patting Fitz on the shoulder.

He nodded back and then turned, taking in a deep breath as he walked back to Jemma.

“We’ll take one of these too.”

Fitz placed a cheap bottle of champagne on the counter and she looked at him befuddled.

“Fitz what happened - what did you say?”

He proffered his card and the man bagged their goods.

“I apologized - told her why I hadn’t called.”

“Oh?”

The clerk handed him the receipt and Fitz took the bag as he began to move.

“Are we celebrating something then?” Jemma referred to the bottle of bubbly.

Fitz nodded, taking her hand as they walked, stopping at the corner to face her.

“I told her - about you.”

He took a deep breath.

“That I am crazy about you...that we’ve been best friends for years and that I’m - that I’m happier than I ever thought I could be...”

“Fitz I-”

“-and that I am completely in love with you.”

Her breath caught as she smiled through nervous tears.

“...and that I think you feel the same way.”

She nodded urgenty, releasing a watery chuckle.

“Yes. Yes I do.”

“So I suppose... then...” he began, handing her the ice cream as he twisted the foil off the wine, “this, Jemma Simmons - is to us.”

He uncorked the top and she laughed again as it popped and he took a swig, handing it to her.

She smiled, cheeks aching as she cheersed the bottle toward him.

“To us.”

She took a drink of the sweet bubbles and her cheeks were pink as she looked at him, handing it back.

He closed his eyes as he tipped back a long gulp and she laughed again.

When he opened them to her bright shining face he was awash in everything that was good in the world.

“Jemma - I love you.

“I know,” she told him, stepping forward, “I didn’t...until - I don’t know, but I - I do now - and I love you too. I love you and I think a part of me has loved you for a long time. Maybe in a different way at first but then I...I love you. I just do.”

Her hand was on his chest and her head was angled toward him and he couldn't imagine more perfect words had ever been spoken.

“I love you,” Jemma murmured as she pressed her lips to his.

His free hand pulled her into the long kiss and Jemma felt a peaceful delight settle over her body. When she stepped back she kissed him once more and then took his hand.

“Now let’s go home and make good use of our champagne & ice cream.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who's followed and encouraged this story! Its very possible that we'll see some one shots from them in the future - I've gotten very attached! Appreciate all the comments and kudos and views - it means a lot that this smutfest full of heart has brought you all a smile as it has me!


End file.
